The Bexhills
by naybaybay
Summary: Castle and Beckett go undercover at a marriage counseling retreat.     M for a reason kids...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Of course they're mine! (In my dreams) In reality - no. **

**Hi folks, so I have to say I am VERY nervous about this because it's my first time writing anything smutty, and I am more than likely rather terrible at it :-/ Hopefully you don't think so, but please give your honest opinion or this little writer will never grow... :-)**

**This will be a chapter story, how long the journey will be, and where the destination is remains undetermined, but hopefully you will join me for the ride! **

**Thanks so much for reading - ENJOY!**

It was a perfect Summer setting outside. But here inside the 12th, it could have been the most miserable day of Winter.

Beckett sat at her desk, pouring over piles of tedious case notes. Just waiting for the next call to come in. It occurred to her more than once over the past two days, that as a cop she had become dependent on people being murdered to have any sort of purpose in life.

The thought had been fleeting and for a moment; frankly sickening.

Castle was sitting beside her, clicking a pen out of boredom. Every few seconds he would let out a sigh, which would be both annoying as hell, and adorable to Beckett.

"Pleeeease ring!" Castle shouted suddenly at the phone, making Beckett jump.

"Castle!" She shouted at him. He looked at her sheepishly. "Sorry", he muttered.

Beckett shook her head at him. "Why don't you go home? I'll call you when something comes in."

Castle considered her. "I could use a holiday." Beckett shot him a look. He could use a holiday?

"Your whole life is a holiday", she scoffed at him.

"Yeah well, I try to adopt the phrase 'life is for living'... unlike some."

Beckett scowled at him. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Castle opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Captain Gates calling out to them from her office door.

"Beckett, my office. Now." Castle surveyed the disgruntled expression on Beckett's face and decided to play with it a little. "Somebody's in trouuuble", he said in a sing-song voice.

Against Gates' better judgement she then shouted out. "You too Castle." Castle's grin was wiped from his face immediately. Beckett smirked at him.

They both walked cautiously into Gates' office. Before sitting down, she looked at them. "Shut the door", she said.

Castle complied and they all took a seat.

Gates was looking serious - even more so than usual. Although the look she displayed was leaning more toward concerned than angry.

"We've got a fresh one." She said, getting straight to the point.

Beckett was relieved. She wanted to blurt out "Thank God!" But restrained herself, opting for a slightly more kosher. "OK. Why the secrecy?"

Gates' shoulders slumped, something that didn't happen often, she was characteristically a very straight-backed woman.

"The victim is the wife of a very important figure. A former Mayor in fact."

Castle gasped. "Which one?"

Gates shook her head "Before your time Castle. He hasn't sat in the chair for more than thirty years, and they were married just before his term began."

Castle raised. "Wow, more power to that guy", Beckett shook her head at him.

"Doesn't mean they never had their problems though", Gates went on. "In fact they had a well publicized rough patch about ten years ago, which lead them to seek marriage counseling. Nowadays they help other couples by running a 'marriage retreat' just outside Bayonne. Or at least they did." She bowed her head sadly.

Castle and Beckett both watched her with curiosity, they'd never seen the sensitive side of the tough-talking Captain.

"So Sir what exactly is our position here?" Beckett asked tentatively.

Gates inhaled, straightening back up in her chair again. "His worship is a good friend of mine and I have no doubt in my mind that he is innocent. He wants us to find out who did this to his wife, period. They spent every day of the last ten years in the same place. 'The Lasting Vows Marriage Retreat'. So whoever murdered her had to have either been a worker or a current client. They have these two week seminars on how to build and maintain better marriages, and the one running at the moment is half way through."

"So you want us to go down there and question people?" Beckett asked.

Gates looked at them seriously. "His worship is adamant. People's marriages are at stake here. He doesn't want any disruption that could upset the objective they're trying to achieve. He says his wife would have died before she let that happen."

Beckett and Castle both grimaced.

"I know, I thought it was a poor choice of words too. But he is clear about this. He doesn't want anything going on that could jeopardize the retreat, but we need to get detectives in there before the end of the week. Which is why I need someone to go undercover. Well two people in fact; a couple."

Beckett and Castle understood now what Gates was asking. Beckett was first to protest. "Sir; no. It-it just won't work."

Castle's mouth was opening and closing robotically, finally he managed to get a couple of words out. "Why us?"

Gates raised her eyebrows. "Everybody is always assuming you two are together. Let's put that idea to practical use."

Beckett was getting flustered. "Sir, Castle's not even a trained detective, he's a civilian, a very recognizable civilian at that."

"I will arrange new identities to be set up for the both of you. You won't be recognized. We will not jeopardize this investigation", Gates said officially.

Beckett could only sit there, gaping like a fish. She had no more argument.

"That's all." Gate said. "Now go home and get some rest. Starting tomorrow, you two are on duty for a week", she finished conclusively.

Beckett stood up and stormed out of Gates' office.

Castle sat there dumbly for a couple of seconds, until Gates prompted him. "Castle, get out." He quickly left the office, following Beckett to the kitchen where she was making a cup of coffee

"I am going to need something stronger than coffee tonight", she said, her voice shaking with rage. She slammed she coffee pot dow on the bench. "Gah! I could just punch her!"

Castle put his hands out. "Why are you so mad about this?"

She looked at him with wide eyes. Wasn't it obvious? Acting as a married couple, when they had such strong unresolved feelings for each other? It was just way too (As Castle once put it) Meta.

"I just don't understand why it has to be you and I" she said defensively.

Castle shrugged. "Hey, you heard what Gates said... we're sizzling."

Beckett rolled her eyes at him. "You're both delusional."

"Oh come on Kate, you can't deny that we have... something." Castle barely breathed the last word, stepping into Beckett's personal space.

Beckett felt tingles up her spine as his breath hit her face. Well, two could most definitely play this game.

She leaned into him, leaving barely an inch between them. "Oh we definitely have something Castle", she whispered seductively. Castle closed his eyes.

"It's called umbrage!" She said harshly.

Castle opened his eyes and said half outraged, half impressed, "Good word!"

He slapped the bench, hurting his hand and then frowned, shaking the pain away. "Why must you insist on blowing hot and cold like that?" He asked Beckett angrily.

She turned and gave him an evil grin. "We're married now, get used to it."

...

Beckett lay in her bed, tossing fitfully.

She couldn't sleep, she was thinking about what the next few days were going to be like. Pretending to be Castle's wife? She'd never thought about being anybody's wife. Even as a young girl, she was never interested in the idea of getting married and being romantic with one man forever. Romance was something her parents had, something that she almost wanted an escape from. When her mother was killed, she saw how love could hurt, as her father turned to drink. But thinking of Castle, she realized that not only did she want to be romantic with him, she also wanted to be slightly cheeky, highly sexual and fantastically adventurous with him. Forever.

She put her hand to her head and exhaled roughly. She couldn't go to those places right now, she had to sleep... But then again she would have to spend the next week, constantly in Castle's presence, and there was no way she would let him see her thinking of him in this way. Perhaps now was the perfect time.

Slowly she ran her right hand through her own hair. Her fingers then moved to caress her face, where she slipped them into her hungry mouth. She let her tongue play with them for a minute, then carried the saliva from her mouth further down to where her other wetness was. Her hand slithered down over her breasts and torso scratching herself lightly with her manicured fingers. Her fingertips lifted up the waist band of her pajama pants, and, closing her eyes, she blindly found her destination.

But she wasn't blind at all. She saw a thousand images at once. Images of Castle doing to her what she was doing to herself right at this moment. Of their bodies joined as one beautiful, messed up web of heat. His mouth becoming acquainted with her most sensitive parts. His thickness filling her completely, and then both of them riding their way to extrication.

Beckett sucked in and exhaled with a moan, as the images accentuated her arousal, her fingers the talented tools to carry it out.

The images changed and her and Castle were doing nothing more than starring into each others eyes. God that man's eyes. The electric blue of them boring into her own greens was enough to send her over the edge. The innocence of it, the complete lack of contact was what really drove her insane whenever she was around him. It was when she ached for him more than ever.

She lay there, her hand hovering, feeling the pulsing growing slower and slower. Her breathing matching its tempo. Until finally she slept.

...

Castle clambered into bed. He couldn't help thinking that Gates was actually in favor of him and Beckett being together, though the logic of his mind added that it was probably only so she could use their relationship as a means to kick him out of the precinct.

In any case, he was all for the idea of Beckett being his, in whatever capacity that might be, and whatever consequences might arise from it.

The only exception being his daughter. If he had to chose between Alexis and Kate... well he just hoped it would never come to that. Alexis had expressed some concern over her father's relationship with the detective, but they were cool now right? He was pretty sure ever since Kate had saved him from that bank, Alexis had warmed up to her considerably.

The memory of the moment Kate's voice had rung through the air in that dusty, dark bank, desperately calling his name, still made him well up with emotion. And then the way she'd smiled at him, taking him in for just a second, to make sure he really was there in front of him, that there would still be another day, another chance for her to tell him how much she needed him.

Or maybe that was just wishful thinking on his part.

But then she'd reached out a hand, to tug affectionately at his collar. And it only took a second for them to realize they were both in love with each other, which is when they each began to grin like idiots.

Surely she'd felt that way?

Then, of course his damned mother (whom he loved dearly, but could've strangled in that moment) had interrupted them, before they could indulge in a frenzy of passion.

It would've happened, of course it would have.

He sighed deeply. Why was life so god-damned difficult with her? With any other woman, sex... love... had always been so easy. But her, the one woman he'd ever felt this much for, she had to be the mystery he was never going to solve.

He'd pictured her a million times, while pleasuring himself. She was always the face he gazed upon. The lips he tasted. Hers were always the curves he ran his hands over, and the breasts that hovered over him, daring his mouth to devour them.

He softly stroked his manhood, it was too late to back out of these thoughts now, but he needed to get it out of his system quickly, so he pumped himself at a pace to rival the space shuttle, and exploded in the same fashion.

He lay back in his bed, panting heavily. He really needed to forget all this as soon as possible, get it out of his head. Starting tomorrow, he would be spending the majority of the week in what he imagined would be, very close proximity to her.

...

**A/N: What do you think - continue? Yes? No?** **Comments are appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2  Tony and Maria Bexhill

**Wow - I am just so overwhelmed at the response this story has had - thank you so much everyone! **

**Not all of the chapters will be smutty, but hopefully you'll still think they're worth reading :-)**

**Also, I just saw Glee last night and they did West Side Story - for a moment I was kind of like "Hey, they stole my idea!" haha. But anyway, I wanted to continue down this route with that particular musical and these particular names... for reasons that will eventually be clear ;-)**

**Enjoy Chapter 2!**

8am came and both Castle and Beckett were respectively entering the precinct.

They caught each others' gaze as they met at the elevator.

"Morning", Castle muttered quietly to her, as he handed her a grande vanilla latte.

"Morning", Beckett said back, taking the coffee but doing anything to avoid meeting his eyes.

The bell dinged and they simultaneously stepped into the elevator. Castle leaned up against the railing with his elbows. Beckett sunk into the back opposite corner, wrapping her arms around herself.

Castle cleared his throat. "So, big day today."

Beckett nodded. "Yup". 'Oh my god, could that have been any more pathetic?' She thought to herself.

Castle seemed to get that she was nervous and did what he does best to defuse the tension; made a smart-ass remark. "Well it may surprise you to learn that this is not actually my first marriage counseling retreat. In fact, Meredith and I were regulars at the hotel of 'Irreconcilable differences."

Kate raised her head and finally looked at him, only not directly in the eyes of course.

"Well, at least one of us is practiced in the art of marital screw-ups."

Castle chuckled. "Oh yes, you will certainly be learning from the best."

Kate grinned at that.

And there it was. They would be alright again; for now.

The elevator reached the floor that the homicide unit was situated on and the pair got off smiling.

Ryan and Esposito sauntered up to them, a faint smirk on both their lips.

"So you guys are finally taking he leap to couples therapy huh?" Esposito teased.

"Actually it's not therapy, it's re-affirming love, commitment and trust between married couples." Castle pointed out.

Ryan, Esposito and Beckett all gave him a look.

"Yeah, you're right it's therapy", he concluded.

"Got your new identities right here. Photo ID, Marriage certificate..."

"Hey look at that, huh?" Castle said, beaming, he held it up for Beckett to see, who squinted at it.

"Tony and Maria Bexhill?" She said, reproachfully.

"Yeah a combination of Beckett and Castle, see? Beckett, Castle - Bexhill."

Castle nodded approvingly while Beckett rolled her eyes and said sarcastically. "Cute."

"Oh Beckett, you're here, good."

"Goodmorning Captain Gates." Gates ignored Castle's greeting.

"You ready for today?" She asked Beckett.

"Yes sir", Beckett said trying for an air of confidence.

"Good, Mr. O'Bryant is expecting you at 10, he'll be wai... what Castle?" Gates stopped and gave Castle a death glare. He had squealed at hearing the name O'Bryant.

"O'Bryant is our victim's husband? Oh man, I have to ring mother! She had the biggest crush on him when he was first elected. Do you think it would be too soon to give him her number?"

They all looked at him a little disgusted.

"As I was saying..." Gates continued. "Mr. O'Bryant will be waiting for you to give you the skinny on the Lasting Vows Retreat; who works there, where things are kept. Now you must understand that he is a very busy man, who doesn't usually make appearances at the retreat, so he'll be meeting you in a covert location, just outside of town. Here's the address." She handed Beckett a slip of paper.

"I'm trusting you to handle this with discretion, detective", Gates said, as they both held onto the piece of paper.

"I will, sir." Beckett looked at her.

Gates nodded and turned her back, walking into her office.

"Does it seem odd to you how insistent she is about O'Bryant's privacy being maintained?" Castle asked.

"She's just trying to protect the integrity of one of the city's most highly-regarded men."

"She never does that for me", Castle pouted.

Beckett shook her head, walking away.

"What? I'm highly regarded... People love me!" Castle called out to deaf ears.

...

"What's that address again?" Beckett and Castle had been traveling for almost a half hour and were had just entered Bayonne.

"Uh, it's the 1st Street Park. Where are we now?" He caught a glimpse at a street sign as the car zoomed past that read 'Avenue A'. "Take a left at the end of the street", he directed Beckett.

"Kay", she replied, keeping her eyes fixed to the road.

"So.. Maria", Castle rolled the 'r' in Maria, as he gave Beckett a cheeky grin and raised his eyebrows at her.

She turned to him to frown but for some strange reason a smile seemed determined to show itself.

Castle's grin widened, his eyes twinkling. The look quickly turned to one of panic however and he shouted. "Kate!"

Beckett flipped her head back around just in time to swerve away from hitting a kid on a BMX bike. She honked her horn at him. "Jeez!"

Castle exhaled. "You alright?"

Beckett looked flushed, and her heart was thumping in her chest but she just nodded. "Yeah, stupid kid."

All of a sudden, whether it be releasing the stress they were carrying over how things would be over the next few days; or out of sheer relief that they'd narrowly escaped a reckless driving charge; they both began to laugh.

Before they knew it they'd reached their destination. Beckett guided the car into a car park, where she pulled up and turned off the engine.

A weathered looking man in a well-tailored suit stood across the car park, in front of a large plaque. He was looking up at Castle and Beckett as they got out of the vehicle. He motioned them over to where he stood.

Castle and Beckett looked at each other and proceeded toward the former Mayor.

"Your worship. I'm detective Kate Beckett. This is my partner, Rick Castle."

He shook both of their hands. Beckett took note of the light stains on his cheeks; he had been crying.

"We're very sorry for your loss, sir." She choked out.

O'Bryant nodded his head. "Please, call me Gareth."

"Gareth, do you have any idea who would want to kill your wife?"

O'Bryant sighed. "No. Everybody loved Caroline. She was the most caring woman in all of New York City. Nobody had her tenacity, her love was what aided me throughout my campaigns, to carry out all my good work and inspire the public to believe in me. Believe in us. She was the one everybody really voted for."

Beckett smiled at him; the man could certainly turn a phrase; she understood some of the attraction Martha felt.

"Victoria says you're the best, Detective Beckett." He continued.

"Incidentally, how do you two know each other?" Castle asked, hoping the question wasn't too personal.

"Everybody knows that despite Caroline's devotion to me, my own fidelity was, at times, questionable. Victoria was my secretary for a short while, during my final term. She was a beautiful young woman, driven, intelligent; more so than me." He bowed his head. "She refused my advances, and helped me to realize how incredible my wife was and how badly I'd been treating her. I don't know why she never left, or how I could have been so foolish. I owe Victoria my marriage."

Castle was dumbstruck. "Gates? Our Captain?"

O'Bryant nodded.

"Gareth, we're going to need you to provide us with the names of the counselors and all of the couples currently attending the retreat", Beckett told him.

"Yes, I have a full list printed out in my car." He gave the plaque in front of him a pat with his hand, before turning and walking in the direction of his car.

Castle and Beckett glanced at the plaque for the first time; it read: In memory of Mayor Dennis P. Collins.

They followed him. "Great man, Mayor Collins", he said behind his left shoulder.

"Was he a friend of yours?" Beckett asked him.

"He was the one who convinced me to run for office. My mentor, a muse of sorts."

Behind him Castle nodded. "Muses are wonderful things aren't they?" He turned and smiled at Beckett who bit her lip shyly.

They reached O'Bryant's car and he reached inside the glove compartment to pull out a file.

"Information on all of the couples currently attending, background checks on staff, emergency contacts, and my number is on there as well."

Before handing the paper over to Beckett, he looked deep into her eyes. "My wife was a martyr. Every single day for the past ten years, she would make the trek over the Bayonne Bridge from our home in Staten Island, she never really had to, but she always said how good it made her feel to help people one-on-one with their marriages. She set it up here in Jersey, mainly for people who couldn't afford marriage counseling. She was the reason that place is such a success. Now with her gone, I don't know how it will survive; or how I'll survive."

The former mayor began to cry, and as he gave Beckett the list, he said. "You make sure you look after our people, Detective."

Beckett felt herself well up with emotion, and she spoke to him sincerely. "Your worship, I promise I will look after your people, but I also promise that I will find out which one of them killed your wife, and when I do... I will make them pay."

...

Castle and Beckett drove the few miles from the Mayor Dennis P. Collins park to the Lasting Vows Marriage Retreat.

As she drove, Beckett gripped the steering wheel tightly.

Castle looked over at her, feeling her stress compressing the space around the car.

"Hey, you still bothered by that near-miss with the kid before. Because it was his fault, you know?"

Beckett shook her head. "No, just focused on the case. I really want to solve this one... for him."

Castle smiled at her, wanting to say "What makes that different from any other case?" But he thought better of it. "So, we better work on our cover story, right?" He decided on finally.

"Yeah we should. So you're Tony and I'm... Maria", Beckett smirked.

"What were Ryan and Esposito thinking?"

"Do you think they even know?" Beckett smiled.

"Espo's latino, of course he knows West Side Story...so anyway. I'm a civil engineer who practices alien investigation in his spare time and and you're a fashion designer."

Beckett frowned at him. "I don't know anything about fashion design."

"We live in Bayonne - you're obviously not a very good one", Castle reminded her.

"And you know everything there is too know about civil engineering I assume."

"Wikipedia", Castle smiled, holding up a link on civil engineering, on his phone.

Beckett rolled her eyes.

"My parents are both dead... wait let me just dream on that for a second."  
>Castle said.<p>

Beckett looked at him scornfully "Castle, don't be such a prick. Your mom's great."

"If your dad lived with you, you'd understand", Castle deadpanned.

"So what about my parents?" Beckett asked. "If we're just pretending then I want parents."

"Your parents are both very much alive, and living in your native Serbia."

"Are you so determined to avoid in-laws that you're going to take it that far?"

Castle shrugged. "We see them on holidays. We'd have to meet them somewhere half-way though, like Canada. I don't earn that sort of dough and god knows you're not bringing anything in."

Beckett was becoming exasperated.

"We have two kids. Boy and a girl. Girl is older, pretty like you. Boy looks like you too. I might have suspicions about that..." Castle pointed a finger at her.

"If we have kids then where are they while we're here?" Beckett raised her eyebrow.

"Staying with relatives."

"In Serbia?" Beckett asked, amused.

Castle pursed his lips. "Ok, fine, no kids. Can we at least have a puppy though?"

"Oh honey, don't you remember? I'm allergic." Beckett teased him.

"Pet iguana then?" Castle asked hopefully.

Beckett nodded. "Cool."

"There we go, we're getting somewhere. It's all about the give and take in a marriage", Castle smiled.

Beckett squinted at him. "You're going there to be a client, not a counselor Castle."

"Yeah you're right. I better work hard to tone down my expert advice on relationships. Otherwise people will be left to conclude that our marriage problems are all your fault."

Beckett looked over at him, mouth open. "Oh, no you are not putting the blame on me. It takes two to tango, Tony."

Castle beamed at her, his eyes sparkling with childish delight at the way he could so easily get her riled up.

They drove past a sign that read 'Lasting Vows Marriage Retreat: Where love is re-affirmed.'

"Where love is re-affirmed?" Castle made a "pfft" noise. "Please tell me O'Bryant didn't come up with that. I may have just lost all respect for the man."

Beckett shook her head as they pulled into the retreat. Maybe this week wasn't going to be so different from any other week after all.

**A/N: I have a really full on day tomorrow, but I will try and update ASAP. I'm doing a big show and it's my first time singing with a full orchestra, so wish me luck - eep!**


	3. Chapter 3  Liz and Tom

**Hi everyone, again I am completely awe-struck at the level of support for my story - thank you so much! **

**My concert went really well, thanks to everyone that wished me luck :-) **

**Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it...**

Castle and Beckett got out of the car and unpacked their bags from the trunk.

Castle carried Beckett's bag, which was surprisingly light for such a well-presented woman.

"Castle!", Beckett whispered fervently.

He spun around to meet her. She came close to him and whispered furiously, playing out an argument.

"It's really sweet of you to carry my bag and I appreciate the chivalry but we're supposed to be kind of pissed with each other so... I'll take it!" She said the last three words out loud and snatched the bag out of his hand for good measure.

Castle looked at her, hurt and confused, but when she winked at him, he gave her a discrete smile.

They walked into the reception area where they were greeted by a young asian woman, smiling brightly at them.

"Hello, and welcome to Lasting Vows Marriage Retreat. I'm Sylvia. May I take your names please?"

"Beck-" Kate froze. "-Sill. Bexhill, Maria and Tony"

"Welcome Maria, welcome Tony, I'll just look for you two sweeties on the list" the girl smiled sweetly.

Castle was looking at her with a dreamy, lopsided smile.

"Yup, here we are Tony and Maria Bexhill. So I'll just need you both to sign here please."

Beckett and Castle signed an agreement form, without bothering to read the fine print.

"And if you'll just hand over your keys, then I'll show you to your room."

Beckett snapped. "I-I'm sorry, what?"

"Your keys, Mrs. Bexhill, it's customary. We're in the business of helping people resolve their marriages, and we can only do that if both parties are totally committed to being here, so..." She beamed at Beckett and held out her hand.

Beckett looked at Castle, dumbfounded. He motioned to her to hand over the keys.

Beckett sighed and after a moment more hesitation, gave her keys to Sylvia.

"Great" Sylvia's smile grew even wider. "This way."

Castle and Beckett fell into stride with Sylvia as they walked through the reception and out into a well-manicured garden.

"So, tell me. Do they send you here as a distraction to the men. Like a challenge or something?" Castle asked, his eyes still twinkling.

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure w-"

"Oh come on! You've gotta be an actress right? Set up here as some kind of test of faith. I mean look at you, you're gorgeous."

"Oh my god, do you have no shame?" Beckett shouted at him, not certain if the question was coming from Maria or Kate.

Castle looked at her and shrugged.

"Mr and Mrs. Bexhill, what made you decide to seek counseling for your marriage? It was a sudden decision, no? They don't usually let people in half way through the two weeks. Mr. O'Bryant must have thought you two were in great need." Sylvia changed the subject. She tried to be subtle, but it was glaringly obvious that she was telling them they were acting terribly toward one another.

"Um, well we read in the paper that Mrs. O'Bryant had been murdered. It mentioned this place and frankly I was ready to commit my own murder against him, so I thought, nothing to lose right?"

Sylvia nodded. "Ah, yes Mrs. O'Bryant - such a wonderful lady. A real tragedy. So how did you convince your husband to come along?"

Beckett shrugged. "I told him there would be free food."

Sylvia pursed her lips for a moment. "Here we are, Block C, room 5."

They stopped at a door, marked in gold lettering with the aforementioned room number.

"You'll be sharing with a lovely couple from Spring Lake Heights."

"Sharing?" Beckett said in a flurry.

"With another couple?" Castle followed up with.

"Yes, it's a part of re-building marriages. Couples spend time with other couples, analyzing things that they do in their relationships Giving each other tips, complimenting each other and giving encouragement." Sylvia explained.

"Oh I get it. You mean, we spend time with another screwed up couple, and when we see all the mistakes they're making, we deduce that we _surely_ aren't that bad, and it makes us realize that we must love each other more than we actually thought." Castle hit the nail on the head.

Sylvia smiled one last time at them, before sidling away. "Have a wonderful stay Mr. and Mrs. Bexhill."

Once Sylvia was out of earshot, Beckett looked at Castle. "You really should've come here as an undercover counselor."

Castle shrugged. "I have a gift for reading between the lines."

"I've noticed", Beckett eyed him up. She then knocked on the door.

"Oh, ah, come in", a woman's voice answered.

Beckett turned the handle of the door and entered the room, Castle in tow.

Greeting them was a brightly lit hotel-style room. A fire place was situated at the opposite wall, between two two-seater couches. The carpet and drapes were soothing neutral tones, the room had a comforting feeling about it.

"Hello", a woman of around 55 with short greying hair, stepped out from behind a wall.

"Hi", Beckett greeted her.

"Tom! Our roommates have arrived, come and say hello."

A man with a lined face and a slight arch in his back entered the room, looking reluctant.

"Hello sir", Castle stepped forward and shook the man's hand.

"Tom", he answered in a softer voice than one might expect from such a hardened looking man.

"Tom, good to meet you. I'm Tony, Tony Bexhill", Castle smiled.

"And I'm Maria", Beckett said, addressing the wife.

"Elizabeth... Delancey, call me Liz - my husband Tom", she motioned toward Tom, who nodded in Beckett's direction.

"Hi", Beckett smiled.

An awkward silence filled the room.

Castle, of course was the first to break the silence. "So... Friday night, the big dance - going to be off the chain, right?"

Liz gave him a strained smile. Tom simply blinked at him.

Liz cleared her throat. "So Tony and Maria... how... charming."

"Oh yeah, wish I had a nickel for each time someone has brought up that coincidence." Castle waggled his eyebrows.

"One hand, one heart was our wedding song", Kate said softly.

Castle looked at Tom "I know... cheesy right?" Tom looked at him strangely.

"So, how long have you two been married?" Liz asked.

"Ten years" "Four Years" Castle and Beckett gave two different answers.

Liz and Tom furrowed their brows in their direction.

Beckett shifted uncomfortably on the spot.

Castle let out a blurted laugh. "No, she's right, four years." He hit Tom on the shoulder. "Feels like ten though, you know?"

Beckett looked at her feet. Liz looked at her with pity. "Tom, why don't you show Tony around? Maria and I will unpack."

"Oh great idea, give me the guided tour Tom", Castle said, jovially.

"Right, follow me then", Tom grunted. He and Castle exited the room while Castle was asking "There's a bar here right?"

The door closed behind them and Liz smiled at Beckett. "So, Tony is rather...bourgeois."

Beckett raised her eyebrow. Bourgeois, a word French in origin, derived from the Latin 'Burgus', meaning 'Castle'. Even Castle would find the use of word ironic.

"Tell me about it", Beckett smiled. "How many years have you and Tom been married?"

"Well we were together for five years before he popped the question, not that I was exactly subtle about wanting him to", Liz laughed. "28 years and four kids later, here we are."

"Wow, that's quite a feat."

Liz nodded sadly. "I hope you don't mind me asking but, you and Tony haven't been married for all that long... what made you want to seek out marriage counseling?"

"Oh believe me, he wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea. I guess it shows a little bit of hope for us that he eventually agreed to do it though." Beckett said, thoughtfully.

Liz smiled encouragingly at her. "Well, it's more than I managed with Tom. If it wasn't for our eldest daughter making the suggestion, he'd still be at home cursing at the political channel."

She smiled genuinely as she pulled out a photograph of a young girl with a handsome dark-haired young man and two young girls in tutus. "Megan", she said, showing Beckett the photo. "Her husband Stuart, and their two twin girls Maya and Leah."

"They're gorgeous", Beckett beamed at the photo.

"You and Tony don't have any children?"

Beckett blushed. "Ah, no, no kids yet." She said. Yet? Where did that come from? She asked herself.

"So does this place really work, I mean, have you and Tom made any progress this week?" Beckett asked, hoping she wasn't asking too personal a question.

"Actually, yes. When we first arrived, Tom wouldn't even speak to me, let alone strangers." Liz lowered her voice. "Actually, I've been trying to get him to see a doctor, I think there's a possibility he might be suffering from depression or something."

Beckett was surprised. "Really, what makes you think that?"

Liz shrugged. "At first it was just a feeling I had, but then I began researching it at work - I'm a librarian. And all the signs started pointing to it. Shutting off from human contact, not eating, he developed insomnia. Last month he started getting really particular about where things were put in our house, like he couldn't stand to let my own personal taste play a part in our lives. He's always bitter and angry toward me - it's like I've done something horribly wrong to him, I-I just wish I knew what." She bowed her head.

Beckett placed a hand on Liz's back. "Listen, I'm sure he's just in a rough place right now, but hey, you've taken a positive step here. From what I've heard, this place can be a real life-saver if you let it, if not, then at least a marriage-saver."

Liz wiped away a tear. "Well, that's all I want, just my Tom back."

Beckett smiled. "It may not be my place, I mean I've only known you a few minutes but I think you two are really strong together, he's very lucky to have you."

Liz laughed through her tears. "Thank you. And even if Tom doesn't believe it, I think I'm pretty lucky too.

Beckett smiled.

"You're a very smart young woman, Maria. Wherever did Tony find you?"

Beckett grinned. "I picked him up at a book signing."

...

"Psst, hey!" An urgent voice sounded from behind a shrub.

Beckett squinted, looking around to find the source.

Castle stepped out to meet her.

"What are you doing?" She asked angrily.

"Evoking that reaction", he pointed at her. He shrugged innocently. "Just keeping up appearances."

Beckett rolled her eyes, customarily.

"So you find out anything about anything from Lizzy?"

"It's Liz, and only that she thinks her husband might be depressed."

Castle raised his eyebrows. "It's possible, the guy's quieter than mother when she found out they were canceling E.R."

"Your mother that's dead, right?" She asked cheekily.

Castle rolled his eyes this time. "So Tom's depression, do you think it's enough to make him suicidal?"

Beckett shrugged.

"Homicidal...? Caatle asked with a pointed look.

Beckett shook her head. "You know, I appreciate that your mind is at least still a little bit focused on the case but... no I don't get that feeling about him."

"The case? What case? Oh the case at hand, I'm sure you mean - our marriage." Castle chuckled. "What else could you possibly be talking about.. here... in front of all these people?"

Beckett whacked him on the arm, and then using his shoulder to peer over him, she spotted something. "Hey, that's events coordinator, right?"

Castle spun around to see a young woman crossing the garden, wearing a "Lasting vows" T-shirt, her hair tied up in a tight ponytail."

"Maybe we should ask her about the volleyball on Tuesday", Beckett said.

Castle looked at her with confusion.

She leaned into him and whispered. "That's our code-word for murder."

She pulled away and Castle smirked. "What?" She asked with a frown.

"Leaning into me, whispering into my ear... to quote Rodgers and Hammerstein; People might say we're in love."

Beckett shook her head, trying not to blush. "That would never happen."

...


	4. Chapter 4 Group Circle

**I just cannot say enough about you all - you are just totally amazing! Thank you soooo much everyone for the amount of support this story has received, I will try and maintain the level that I've set myself! **

**Thanks again - peace and love, **

**Renee.**

Castle and Beckett followed the young woman to a small, dark storage room where they found her surrounded by mounds of boxes and food supplies.

"Excuse me." Castle said, making the woman jump in fright.

"I'm sorry you can't be in here", the woman said strictly.

"We just wanted to ask a couple of questions about the kind of activities that go on here. We're new, just arrived this morning," Castle gave her one of his 'Best-seller' grins.

"Who are you both?" She asked.

"Tony and Maria Bexhill", Kate said with a surprisingly square jaw.

"Well, I'm Jasmine. What exactly do you want to know Mr. and Mrs. Bexhill?"

"Well are there any activities that you recommend newcomers should try out?" Castle asked, fidgiting with a bean bag that was hanging out of a nearby box,.

"Well we have trust exercises going on all day, over in the main hall, which are often good introductions."

"Trust exercises huh? Like leading blindfolded partners around, catching them when they fall back into you, that sort of thing?"

Jasmine nodded.

"What are these for?" Castle asked, holding up a bean bag.

"We use those for expectant parents, who might be here because they have differing views on how to raise their child. Cheaper and more practical than bringing in dolls, you can never get a doll with the right weight, unless you pay a bomb", said Jasmine.

Castle held the bean bag like a baby, and walked over to Beckett, cooing. "Aw well, would mommy like to hold Tony junior?"

Beckett looked at him for a second, her head swimming slightly, before she turned to Jasmine.

"So the activities that you provide here, are they always successful? Like, are there people here right now that haven't responded _at__all_to what you offer."

Jasmine shrugged slightly. "People respond at their own time. Some take longer than others to really accept that they may need to change the things they do and the way they behanve in order to save their marriage."

"Is there anyone in particular you've seen that has become significantly worse since being here?"

Jasmine paused "I can't discuss that with you, Mrs. Bexhill."

Beckett nodded. "Of course, I'm sorry." She smiled at her.

Castle and Beckett were both a little startled when the wedding march began playing somewhere close to them. They looked upward and found that it was coming out of a speaker box hanging on the wall.

"What's that?" Beckett asked.

Jasmine picked up a small pillow and said quickly "That's the call that tells people to go to the therapy garden for our daily group session. The session is compulsory so you can follow me."

Castle and Beckett looked at each other knowing there was no way they were going to get out of this.

…...

Castle and Beckett walked with Jasmine until they found themselves among thirty or forty people, each taking a seat on fold-up chairs arranged in a large circle.

"Welcome, who do we have here?", A 60-something year old man approached them.

"I'm Maria and this is Tony-", Beckett replied.

"My husband, Maria. Please introduce Tony as 'My husband.'"

Beckett looked affronted. "I'm Maria Bexhill and this is... _my__husband__"__,_ she winced at her own words - "Tony." Castle licked his lips, looking delighted.

"Very nice to meet you, I'm Murray, one of your councilors. Please... mingle." He motioned to the other couples around him.

Beckett and Castle looked at each other, feeling akward.

"Hi!" An overly bleached smile belonging to a middle-aged blonde greeted them. "I'm Mary-Beth Andrews, uh my husband is... oh I don't know, over there somewhere!" She waved her hand carelessly in the air. "Men! Who can keep 'em down huh? God knows I've tried for years", she gave Beckett a wink and nudged her lightly. Beckett laughed.

"My dear – you are far too young and gorgeous to be married to a man you're not happy with! I know Murray would murder me for saying this but... just dump him. Go and find yourself a quick lay somewhere – I married too young and it's the biggest regret of my life that I didn't party with cute guys every night until I was too old and then become the city's most selatious cougar!"

Beckett's eyes widened and she pursed her lips, color rising up her cheeks.

"Oh Carol – darling!" With that, Mary-Beth was away again.

Castle, who had been witnessing the encounter with Mary-Beth held the same expression as Beckett on his face. "Oh dear", he said. They glanced at each other and both had to quickly look away to avoid dying with laughter.

"Please, can I have everyone seated now!" Murray's voice sounded from across the circle.

People went to sit on the nearest seats. "Next to your resopective partners please", Murray asked of them.

Practically everyone, apart from Castle and Beckett got up to move to sit next to their husbands or wives.

Beckett made a mental note that her and Castle had to try harder to not look like they were so content to be together.

"Good afternoon, my happy couples. I trust you've all had a productive morning?" Murray asked.

There was a dull murmur from within the group.

"Excellent. Well, I know there are one or two couples that would like to share a breakthrough that they've made over the last twenty-four hours, which is very encouraging; but we have a brand new couple with us today and so I would request that they have the opportunity to introduce themselves to you." He peered over at Castle and Beckett who weren't exactly paying attention.

Beckett noticed he was looking expectantly at them and she nudged Castle in the ribs. He snapped his head back qucikly.

"Uh, right. Hi... um, I'm Tony Bexhill and this is my wife Maria?" It came out strangely like a question.

There was an unenthusiastic mutter of greeting from the circle.

Murray spoke. "I'm always interested to get the male perspective on why a couple has chosen to seek out marriage counseling. Tell us Tony, what is the main reason you feel you and your wife need help with your marriage?"

Castle's eyes went wide, and he turned to Beckett. She folded her arms looking like she couldn't wait to hear this. He silently pleaded with her to help him, even though he knew she couldn't.

He turned back to face the group. "I- she-..."

Murray stared at him in an intimidating fashion.

Castle took a deep breath in and reminded himself he had to stay in character.

"She won't give me an heir!" He yelled in desperation.

People looked at him, surprised.

"I'm sorry?" Murray asked him.

"She doesn't want to have kids", he pouted.

Beckett covered her face, looking completely embarrassed.

"I see and you do, obviously?" Murray asked Castle, trying to remain serious.

"Well, I mean, someone's got to carry on my legacy right? The good name Bexhill can't just stop here. Just one kid, Maria, it's all I'm asking for is just one little baby Bexhill." Castle through his hands in the air.

There was a ripple of barely contained amusement around the circle.

Murray was looking at Castle with raised eyebrows. He slowly turned his head to Beckett.

"Mrs. Bexhill? Is there a reason you aren't interested in having children?"

Castle looked at her, trying desperately not to smirk.

She shot him daggers. "I don't know."

"Would you ever consider having children with Tony?"

She pursed her lips and again answered. "I don't know."

Murray's eyes opened wide, he spoke in a calm, professional tone. "OK... Well, we have a very good seminar tomorrow on sexual satisfaction in marriage."

"What?" If Beckett looked embarrassed before, she looked downright exposed now.

Castle put his hand on Beckett's and nodded, trying to contain his laughter. He spoke sincerely to Murray. "Thank you. We might just check that out."

...

The meeting finished within half an hour and Castle approached Murray, if only to spite Beckett. "Great session Murray, truly enlightened."

Murray shook his hand. "Well thank you Mr. Bexhill, I'm pleased you found it informative."

"Oh, I did sir, most definitely. And may I say, you're all doing very well considering the circumstances."

"Circumstances?" Murray narrowed his eyes.

"The murder of Mrs. O'Bryant."

Murray tipped his head. "Ah yes, a real shame."

Castle came close to Murray's ear and said in a low voice. "Do you have any suspicions as to who you think it was?"

Murray shook his head. "No, no idea. The person who did it, you think they're still here?"

Castle shrugged. "Think about it. Has anyone left here since the murder occurred? Staff, clients?"

Murray shuddered "Oh, you're right. So the murderer is right here." He swallowed.

Castle nodded "Perhaps in this very garden."

Murray squinted. "Your file says you're somewhat of a conspiracy theorist."

Castle opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say something, Beckett came up behind him. "You coming?"

He turned to her, relieved. "Yes please... Oh, you don't mind if I...?"

Murray shook his head quickly. "Of course not, you two go and spend some quality time together - that's an order", he winked at them.

Castle chuckled but when he saw the look Beckett was giving him, he tried to pretend to be coughing.

"Oh, sweetheart, do you smell weed killer? It's messing with my asthma, let's go inside." He said, walking away from her. She watched him for a while with her lips pursed, and then followed him to their room.

Beckett crashed down on the couch unceremoniously. "This sucks!"

"Eloquent", Castle deadpanned, sitting on the couch across from her.

"It's just so incredibly ridiculous that I can't act like a cop here. How am I supposed to solve this murder if I can't even question suspects?"

Right on cue, her phone rang. She picked it up "12th" it said on the caller I.D."

"Beckett", she answered, glad to be able to use her own name.

"Hey, it's Espo, you and Castle sorted out your marriage yet?" Esposito teased on the other end.

"It's still on the rocks", Beckett answered, giving Castle her best glare.

"We ran the files that you collected from O'Bryant. Staff or otherwise; squeaky clean, every last one."

Beckett sighed deeply and put her hand to her head. "Of course", she sighed.

"We did find out something interesting while going through the suspects' recent phone records though", Ryan chimed in.

Beckett removed her hand from her head and held it in mid-air. "What?" She asked, expectantly.

"Six very consistent calls over two days to Mrs. O'Bryant from one of the unhappy campers - Mr. Steve Andrews."

Esposito jumped on the line again. "Yeah, the calls lasted an average of three to five minutes each time, so our guy Steve definitely had some kind of a relationship with Mrs. O'Bryant."

"Andrews - where have I heard that name recently?" Castle squinted, thinking.

Beckett clicked her fingers. "The cougar - Mary-Beth Andrews."

"No wonder she couldn't find her husband, huh?" Castle said.

Beckett and Castle smiled at each other with that look in their eyes they always got when they had a fresh lead.

"Tom, you really need to pay more attention in group - what did Murray say about obsessing too much over the small things?" Liz and Tom charged into the room.

Beckett froze for a second. "Who's that?" Ryan said on the other end.

"Uh, it's our roommates. I gotta go, we'll talk later." She hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" Liz asked Beckett.

"Oh um, it was my brother", Beckett said unconvincingly.

"We're not supposed to have cell phones on during our stay, unless we're out doing a character building exercise where we might need help." Liz told her.

"Oh, right. My mom isn't well, in fact she's in hospital. I asked to ring me with updates." Beckett lied.

Castle chanced placing a hand on her shoulder. This seemed to work as Liz gave them a sad smile. "I'm sorry, I do hope she gets better soon."

Beckett reached up and put her hand on Castle's, he felt it shaking slightly.

"You OK?" He asked her softly, sensing that her talking about a fake mother being sick might be upsetting for her.

"Yeah", she took her hand off his and stood up quickly, walking away she whispered shakily "Don't be too nice to me."

Castle suddenly felt the urge to say "I'm your husband", which technically would have worked in the situation, but the wounded look she wore on her face, made him unable to speak.

Instead he watched in silence as she went to their room and closed the door behind her.

Castle stood quite still for a few seconds, simply trying to stare through the door to make sure she wasn't breaking down. Although, if she was it would be all the more painful for him to have to watch without having the ability to hold her.

He turned around to try and rid himself of the strong desire to burst into their bedroom and take her in his arms. Just as he did this however, he heard her outraged cry.

"Castle!"

He furrowed his brow, wondering if she could have possibly been reading his thoughts.

"Castle?" Liz questioned him with an amused expression.

Castle went wide-eyed. "Oh, it's a nickname - it's... I'm...tall", he finished, scurrying into the bedroom.

He shut the door behind him and turned instantly to Beckett, ready to curse her for using his real name.

"Look! One bed Castle, there's only one bed." She looked furious and he decided against calling her up on the slip-up.

"Well the primary ideal of a marriage counseling retreat is to at least have couples sleeping in the same bed", he told her.

Beckett gawked at him. "We are NOT sleeping together."

Castle rolled his eyes. "Well when you put it like that you make it sound like something's going to happen between us."

She pointed a stiff finger. "Oh, nothing will be happening between us. I still sleep with a gun...Tony." She spat his assumed name.

"What's wrong, worried you might not be able to control yourself?" He took a step toward her.

"It's not me that I'm worried about", she said, stepping even closer.

Their veins were bursting and they could both feel their fury turning more and more to passion.

"Maria, Tony, is everything alright?" Castle and Beckett both let out breath they didn't know they were holding.

"Fine thanks Liz." Beckett answered, putting her hand to her head.

"OK, well everybody's heading to the dining hall for dinner."

"Um, we'll be along soon", Beckett replied.

"Oh you take your time", Liz in an almost suggestive tone.

Beckett and Castle remained fixed on each other.

"I'm not sleeping on the floor", Castle told her plainly.

Beckett just shook her head and exited their bedroom.


	5. Chapter 5 The First Night

**Again, you know the drill. you are all amazing - 'nuff said :D**

**Enjoyeeee!**

Dinner was a rather uneventful affair, as Beckett and Castle couldn't question any suspects. So all they were left to do was witness the awkward tension between most of the couples. A tension they couldn't honestly say was not occurring between themselves.

After a rather unsatisfying dinner of pork chops and veg, the couples retreated to the spa (the reconciled ones that is) otherwise, they went to their rooms.

Castle and Beckett walked with Tom and Liz.

"So Tom, I bet you're a keen fisherman, no?"

Tom shrugged.

"Oh of course you are, don't you remember when you used to take Charlie out to Liberty State? You'd come home with a bucket full of those big old blues that I couldn't stand, but you both seemed to love them", she laughed. pinching his arm.

Tom's face contorted. "I don't recall."

Liz face dropped. "Well, it might be good for you to get back into it, perhaps, huh?" She put a hand on his neck.

"Yeah, look Tom, I have a place in the Hamptons - you and Liz are welcome to go up there any time, we'll get you set up at Camp Hero." He gave Tom a genuine smile.

"Oh, that's a lovely offer... Tom?"

"You civil engineers must be making good money to be able to have a place up the Hamptons." Tom managed to string together more than three words.

"Tom!" Liz scolded him.

Castle hid his grimace pretty well. "It was inherited from a very generous great-aunt. I was always her favorite nephew. Practically the only one that didn't visit her during her final days just for an excuse to take a peek at the will."

Liz gave Tom an "Are you satisfied?" Look.

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to pry", Tom said looking at his feet.

Castle instantly felt bad, Beckett gave him a look similar to the one Liz had just given Tom.

"Hey, it's a cruel, confused, dishonest world out there my friend. Sometimes it pays to be suspicious."

He patted Tom on the back, in a gruff manly fashion. Tom lifted his head and gave him a nod.

The two couples got back to their room. Tom and Liz decided to make a cup of tea, which they offered to Beckett and Castle. "Ah, no thanks. I'm a confessed coffee-holic", Beckett smiled.

Castle declined too, saying he'd only ever drunk tea when his niece had seen her piano teacher drinking one, and decided her family should try it. Only, when she made him one, she had become confused and used a rhubarb and raspberry flavored herbal tea-bag, instead of her teacher's earl grey, and had added milk. Since then, the sight of tea bags had made him feel a little nauseous.

Liz assured him that not all tea tasted that way, but he still said he was tired and would rather just get an early night.

Saying goodnight to everyone, he retreated to his and Beckett's bedroom.

Slipping into his favorite comfortable t-shirt for bed, he stood, scanning the room for the roomiest place to make a bed out of clothes. He was laying them down, and was too busy contemplating if this was sort of how homeless people felt on their first night on the streets, that he didn't hear Beckett enter the room.

For a while she stood, leaning against the bedroom door. She stared at Castle unfolding out his clothes onto the floor. She stared at his brow, furrowed with that look he got when he was conjuring up story lines. His bare forearms and - oh god. Biceps! Bulging against the material of his too-tight T. Back muscles clenching as he bent up and down and then... That ass. That ass that she'd pictured her hands grasping on to for dear life while he pumped into her, in so many incredible dreams.

Beckett's breath caught in her throat, which turned into a cough.

Castle spun around. "Oh hey, you OK?"

She nodded, trying to push the erotic survey of his body to the back of her mind. "Yeah, I'm just tired too." She stepped closer to him and whispered. "Hey, what you said to Tom before, what you tried to do for them both. That was really sweet."

Castle smiled slowly. "Hey, they're good people. If I'm able to help rectify one marriage while we're here, I'd consider that a success."

Beckett smiled at him, her eyes shining in the light of the room. "Even if you can't help solve the case?"

Castle shrugged. "The living still come first, right?"

Beckett pursed his lips, something that was always adorable to Castle.

She took the sweater he holding out of his hands and threw it on a nearby chair.

"Mr. Bexhill, I would consider it... acceptable, if you were to share my bed."

"Acceptable? That's it?" Castle scoffed at her. Beckett smirked.

"Anyway, how do you know I wasn't laying these clothes out on the floor... for you?" He teased her, his tongue stuck out slightly between his lips.

Beckett looked at him open-mouthed. "Fine, you take the bed."

Castle grabbed her arm, they were both grinning. His hand slid along her elbow and wrist, giving her goosebumps. Finally he laced his fingers with hers; amazingly she didn't protest or pull away.

"Mrs. Bexhill", he spoke so seriously to her, it made her heart skip a beat. "I would consider it an_honor_, if you were to share my bed."

Beckett's heart raced, she slowly felt a grin appear on her face that she knew was far too stupid and giddy looking to be showing in public, but she couldn't seem to control it.

She unlaced her fingers from Castle's and went to get into her own oversized nightshirt.

"I have to get changed" , she told him, still smiling.

He grinned back. "Oh that's alright, you won't bother me."

Beckett rolled her eyes. "You need to get out."

Castle raised his eyebrows. "If I go out there, they're going to ask me what I'm doing. I can't say I had to leave because my wife was getting undressed. They'll think you're frigid."

Beckett threw a pillow at him. "Well, just go to the bathroom then."

"But I don't need to go."

"Well, get a drink of water."

"Not thirsty."

"Castle!" Beckett shook her head, but she couldn't wipe the smile from her face. "Just, turn around and... close your eyes."

Castle sat down in the chair and turned around, covering his eyes with his hand.

"Both of them!" Beckett growled.

Castle chuckled.

When Beckett was satisfied he wasn't looking, she tore off her shirt and bra, covering her breasts with her arm for security. She needn't have worried though, Castle loved her too much to take a dis-allowed peek at her body, no matter how hot he imagined it was.

After no more than ten seconds she spoke. "Mm-Kay, you can look now."

Castle uncovered her eyes and took in her beautiful sleek figure. She was the only woman he'd ever seen that looked more sexy in something totally unflattering, than she did in something tight and form-fitting."

"Oh to be that night shirt", Castle said breathily.

Beckett bit her tongue shyly.

Castle stood up. "Which side of the bed do you sleep on?"

Beckett shrugged. "I don't care, I usually spread out."

Castle grinned. "Well feel free to keep that going."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'll take the left."

She walked over to the far side of the bed and got in, sliding under the covers. She lay back, letting out a restful sigh and closed her eyes.

Castle decided it would be more peaceful for him to watch her sleep than to sleep himself, so he just stood there. After about thirty seconds however, Beckett opened one eye. "Castle?"

She opened her other eye and looked over at him. "Whattaya doin?"

Castle's heart hammered, her voice was so concerned, innocently sweet and erotic all at the same time.

He inhaled and walked over to the bed, folding back the covers as he held her gaze. Her eyes were so bewitching that he couldn't tear away from them, the only problem was he wasn't paying attention to what the rest of his body was doing and as he went to climb into bed, he tripped on the corner of a sheet and went flying straight into Beckett. He put his hands out in front of him to break his fall, which ended up in the two worst positions they could.

Beckett gasped as his hand brushed her nipple, and in Castle's haste to get off her, he had also tried to use the bit of the bed between her legs to prize himself up, with - interesting consequences.

Castle was dizzy. Beckett picked up his hands, inadvertently making them touch her again.

Castle held his hands up in a surrender position. "Sorry", he squeaked.

Beckett nodded. "Put your hands down Castle, I'm not going to cuff you... yet."

Castle's eyes went wide. Beckett realized in horror what she'd said. She turned her back to him quickly and turned off her side-table lamp.

"Goodnight Castle."

Castle watched her, focused mainly on remembering to breath.

If you someone had told him four years ago that one day he and Detective Kate Beckett would be in a situation where they would be sleeping in the same bed... while she was lucid; he most definitely would have told them to "shut the front door!"

...

Beckett blinked as the offensive light of morning hit her face.

She raised her head up slightly, trying to remember where and who she was.

Maria Bexhill, yes. Married to Castle Bexhill. Wait no. Umm... Tony! That was it, Tony Bexhill.

Played by Castle... yes. Castle, who - oh god, he was in this bed wasn't he?

She tried to turn onto her back to see if he had gotten up yet, but she found it difficult to move. She squinted her eyes, craning her head around. There she saw it. A hand, his hand. Resting on top of where her hip was. His fingers cradled the blankets, under which was her thigh.

She swallowed a lump in her throat as she thought about how close his hand actually was to her... well an inch is as good as a mile she reminded herself. Only, it was less than an inch away, much, much less.

She grimaced and decided she needed to move before her thoughts turned from impure to downright vulgar. Lifting his hand, she was surprised when it felt so cold. She felt the need to warm it all of a sudden, so she lifted the blankets and placed it within the warm area created by their body heat.

Typically, Castle instantly ripped his arm out of the bed and turned over onto his right side.

Beckett muffled a giggle. Rolling onto her back, she suddenly realized she was free. She used her right hand to lift herself off the mattress, causing Castle to groan at the lack of warmth on his back.

Her hand felt his warmth, the toned curves of his back were so inviting.

She shifted her hand slightly, so that it slid almost under his back.

That warmth was so incredibly enticing, and her bones were still tired.

Finally she decided she didn't have the energy to rise out into the cold, and she collapsed back into the bed.

She didn't turn back around though. She was addicted to the heat Castle's back offered, now.

Relaxing completely, she unpinned her arms from between their two figures, and did the only thing that was comfortable enough to allow her to rest peacefully.

She wrapped her arms around Castle's waist, and fell asleep within seconds.

A very short distance away, Castle smiled.

...

In two hours, Beckett had the best sleep she'd had in several years.

She stretched out sleepily, warm and content in her bed. Suddenly, she realized she was alone in the bed. Like a bolt of lightning, it hit her that Castle would have woken to find his body encased in hers. Her arms clinging to him like some desperate sap.

She got up quickly, tripping over those damn sheets again. She remembered with dread what had happened last night when Castle had done the same. She fanned herself to stop turning as red as a beet.

Getting dressed quickly, she practically burst into the living room to find no one there.

"Hello?" She called out. "Liz... Tom...Tony?"

A toilet flushed and after a few seconds, Castle walked out of the bathroom.

Beckett's attempts to cool her face were in vain as she saw that he was still wearing the tight-fitting T-shirt he wore to bed.

Castle gave her a smile as big as the sun. "Good morning sleeping beauty."

To Beckett's utter surprise, he walked over to her and kissed her on the forehead.

He went into the kitchen to finish making her a morning fix of caffeine.

"Castle? Tom and Liz..." She whispered.

"Oh, they're not here." He reassured her.

She held out her hands. "Exactly. So what was that for?" She pointed to the place on her head where his lips had just been.

He ceased stirring her coffee and looked at her with a slightly concerned expression. "Well, I mean this morning I woke up and you... you were... and I thought-" He blinked.

Beckett got angry, "You thought what Castle?"

Castle thought she was angry simply because he'd gotten too close last night. But she was really angry because she so desperately wanted him to hurry up and answer the freaking question! Stop putting her through this agony of going back and forth and just lay it all out on the table already. She knew that if he did it first, she could finally do the same. Surely she could...

But Castle only looked up at her, embarrassed. "I guess you were just dreaming."

**A/N: Now don't you all go throwing stones at you computer screens as this will be resolved in the next chapter - I swear on Montgomery's grave... (Sniff) :'-(**


	6. Chapter 6 Octavia

**Again, you guys... amazing! **

**Hope you likeee the new chapter :D**

Castle and Beckett spent most of the day separated, each talking to different people attending the retreat, and trying to work out if any of them might be viable suspects.

When the wedding march played, signifying it was time for the obligatory group therapy session, Castle and Beckett met each other outside the hall.

Falling into stride with each other, Beckett whispered. "You get anything?"

Castle looked at her with a tired expression. "No, you?"

Beckett shook her head. "No."

They approached the circle and Beckett tussled her hair. Pausing in her stride she made Castle look at her. "Castle... about this morning...".

"Let's just forget it OK?" Castle interjected, and took his seat in the circle.

Beckett looked at him open mouthed for a while and then finally sat next to him, facing away from him.

"Are we all here? Excellent, let's start then shall we?" Murray began the group session.

"Yesterday we addressed the importance of you all understanding the reasons your partners feel you need to attend this retreat. I'd like to continue along that vein today, so... Maria, would you begin by telling us the main reason you think you and Tony are here?"

Beckett looked worried. "To fix our marriage?"

"Yes, but is there a particular issue that sticks out in your mind that you feel needs to be resolved between the two of you?" Murray pushed.

Beckett took a deep breath, looking at Castle with an almost sorry expression.

"He-" The crowd was staring at her intently, it made her nervous. "He doesn't listen to me. He never does what I tell him to do."

There was an uncomfortable shift in the group, and Murray was looking concerned. Beckett realized she'd said the wrong thing.

"I-I mean what I _ask_ him to do", she said weakly. She looked at her knees.

"Go on", Murray prompted.

"He doesn't respect that sometimes I need to do things separately from him. I appreciate him wanting to protect me, a lot of times it's been necessary for him to do so, but he has to know that I need my space too. Sometimes a person has to make mistakes in order to grow, I just wish he would occasionally let me do that."

Castle swallowed a lump in his throat, Beckett's breath caught in hers as she took in how heartbroken he look.

All Castle wanted to do was to take her in his arms at that moment and say "I'm sorry.", but he knew it just wouldn't be in character.

Their eyes locked for a second, before Murray broke them out of their trance.

"Tony, would you like to respond to that?"

Castle couldn't exactly think straight so he did the only thing he could think of to do that would be in character. He blinked the tears out of his eyes and shook his head.

"OK everyone let's just continue on shall we?"

The rest of the group session was somewhat of a blur to Beckett and Castle. When it was over, they walked back to their room, an awkward silence between them. Beckett had her arms wrapped around herself, Castle had his hands in his pockets. He kept sneaking glances at Beckett who just would not look back. Finally he decided enough was enough.

"What you said before..."

Beckett looked at him with the most apologetic expression she could muster.

"That was from Kate to Rick wasn't it?"

Beckett inhaled deeply.

"I'm sorry." They both said at once. They froze suddenly, and stared at each other.

"Why are you sorry?" Castle asked her.

Beckett shook her head. "I never intended to tell you so blatantly. The last thing I want to do is hurt you."

Castle looked around, and seeing no one in their direct vicinity, he grabbed her hand and pulled her behind the supply shed.

Beckett stood with her back cold against the wall. Castle did not let go of her hand.

"Listen, what you said was the truth."

Beckett tried to interrupt.

"No Kate, just let me say my piece."

She closed her mouth.

"I push too hard sometimes. I badger you and I put my nose in places it doesn't belong. I go rogue more often than not and everything you tell me to do, I do the opposite, even if it's just to protect you. But I guess I know how you feel about that now... so I promise I won't pretend to be able to protect you anymore, because the truth is, I'm probably the thing you should be protected from." He let go of her hand but she yanked it back.

He couldn't look at her.

"Castle... how do you know I want protection from you?" She thew at him right between the eyes.

That made him look.

Both of their chests rose and fell with erratic breathing. Castle wasn't exactly sure if this was reality, when he saw Beckett begin leaning into him, he was certain that it must be some incredibly realistic dream.

Hearts beating fast, mouths opening with anticipation, a moan...

A moan escaped someone's lips, but it wasn't Beckett's or Castle's.

Beckett pulled away from Castle, who had his eyes closed. For a moment she simply looked at him, her heart breaking at the realization they'd have to go through the awkward aftermath of another almost-kiss.

He finally opened his eyes and gave her a confused look. "That wasn't you was it?"

Beckett was neither willing nor able to shake her head, instead she motioned for him to follow her.

They walked in the direction that the sound had come from and ended up inside the supply shed.

Rounding the corner, Castle and Beckett found the source of the pleasure, then instantly wished they hadn't.

"Sylvia?" Castle was stunned.

An open-shirted Sylvia the receptionist was straddling a middle-aged man who was lying flat on his back, on top of a large sack of bean-bags.

"Is this part of your duties as an officiator?" Beckett asked Sylvia with attitude.

Castle shook his head. "Shame on you, Sylvia. And in front of the babies too!" He picked up one of the bean bags.

"And who are you?" Beckett asked the silver haired man.

He swallowed a lump in his throat. "Steve."

Beckett wanted to share that knowing look with Castle but couldn't bring herself to do it. "Steve - Steve Andrews?"

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Steve asked indignantly.

"Hey buddy, you know what, given your current position I wouldn't be giving out sass to anyone if I were you." Castle said.

"We wanna know why you were calling Mrs. O'Bryant before she died." Beckett told him.

"How in the hell do you know about that?"

"We're friends of Mr O'Bryant, he saw on her phone that she'd been speaking to you three times a day for a couple of days." Beckett said.

"That number was blocked, how did he find out it was me?" Steve asked suspiciously.

"He's the ex-mayor", Castle looked at him stupidly.

"So did you strangle her to death with your bare hands because she wasn't as easy as Sylvia here?" Beckett asked cooly.

Sylvia looked incredulous, as she did up her buttons. "I have to go." With that she took off out of the room.

"That's how she died? Someone murdered poor Caroline?" Steve turned pale. "Strangled? We knew she'd died but they never told us she was murdered." He looked positively sick.

"Steve", Beckett regained Steve's attention. "Why were you calling Mrs. O'Bryant?"

Steve shrugged. "She was giving me advice about my marriage. She knew more about the troubles couples have than any of the counselors do. Well, I guess being friends of the O'Bryant's you would know that already", he added, earning him a look from Beckett. "But my wife has made it all too clear that I'm about twenty years too old for her."

Castle raised his eyebrows. "So she really is a cougar."

"Why are you two treating me like this is some sort of interrogation?" Steve narrowed his eyes.

"She was our friend. A good, kind woman, and when we find out who it was that killed her, we will be there to make sure they go down for it." Beckett said, without hesitation.

Steve nodded. "And I'll be right there behind you."

Beckett swallowed. "We'll leave you to make yourself decent. Wouldn't want your wife to see you like this."

She walked out of the supply shed, Castle hesitantly followed her.

"He didn't do it", She sighed, sounding annoyed and tired.

Castle looked at her. "I agree. Any other ideas?"

Beckett shook her head bitterly.

Castle bit his lip, tossing up whether to say what he really wanted to or not. Finally he decided there had been too many unspoken words between them.

"Kate", he gently grabbed her arm and forced her to look at him.

"About before..." He waited for her to interject, but she didn't, she just stared at him, unable to tear her eyes from his.

"We had a moment right? I mean, it wasn't just me that felt it, because I keep thinking maybe us being here, acting like we're married, maybe... maybe we just got caught up in the moment."

Beckett's heart broke to do it, but she nodded. "You're probably right. We just got lost in our false reality."

Castle forced a smile onto his face. "We're just such good actors, that's the problem."

Beckett tried to laugh, it hurt to laugh.

Castle's face turned serious, and Beckett stopped trying to pretend she wasn't devastated.

"Richard Rodgers." A voice sounded behind Castle.

Castle turned around, he couldn't help it. He met with the vision of a mysterious looking woman wearing a long shawl, a scarf wrapped around her head and far too many bangles on her left arm.

"Sorry...are you talking to me?"

"You are Richard Rodgers, are you not?" The woman said eerily.

"Uh, I think you must be mistaking me for someone else. My name is Tony, Tony Bexhill. This is my wife Maria." He put his hand on the small of Beckett's back, she instantly felt her spine tingle.

The woman tilted her head back with a spookily aware smile on her face. "My mistake."

"Who are you?" Beckett asked her.

"I am Octavia!" The woman said with a flourish.

"And where is your husband?" Castle asked her, a little frightened.

"Oh no, I never had the desire too marry... I never found the one perfect man to sate my sexual needs... But I keep trying."

Castle gaped at the woman's forwardness.

"You're the sex therapist?" Beckett asked.

Octavia nodded.

Castle's mouth closed.

"You will be attending my seminar, won't you?" Octavia stared deep into their eyes.

Castle and Beckett's mouths opened and closed foolishly.

"I highly recommend you attend, I just know that sensually awakened souls such as yourselves will find it most...illuminating", Octavia drew out every single word of the sentence, so that Castle and Beckett were left feeling like they'd been hypnotized.

For a moment they just stood there, rooted to the spot.

"I think we should go", Castle slurred.

"Yeah," Beckett finally breathed.

They looked at each other and then sort of stumbled across the garden to where the seminar was being held.

It was surprising how few couples were in attendance. Beckett supposed it was because most of them found the idea of talking about their sex lives with other people, rather embarrassing.

She knew that she and Castle wouldn't have that problem because any sex they would be talking about would be only hypothetical.

Suddenly it hit her that her and Castle would have to come up with a good cover story.

As Castle went to sit down, she grabbed him by the scruff and dragged him over behind a nearby tree.

A surprised Castle gave her a half-smirk. "What, you wanna do a control test?"

"Castle, we're going to have to discuss our sex life."

"Yeah", Castle said like he was wondering what the problem was.

"We don't have a sex life!" Beckett reminded him, exasperated.

"Mores the pity..." Castle sighed.

"Castle, focus" Beckett warned.

"Right, sorry."

"Now, thanks to you, everybody knows that we haven't been having a lot of it lately." Beckett scowled at him.

"Well, I could have said we've _never_ had it." He raised his eyebrow.

"OK", Beckett paced. "Why don't we say that you've just been so busy with your... what do you do again?"

"Civil engineering", Castle stressed every syllable.

"Right, and I've been spending a lot of time at my studio...making clothes", Beckett said as though the idea repulsed her.

"So we just haven't been able to spend much time together", Castle reasoned.

"Even though it's obvious to everyone that we want each other." Beckett said

"And all our friends keep telling us to just do it already." Castle lowered his voice.

"So we just settle for little glances, and the occasional bumping of arms", Beckett whispered.

"Or the touch of a hand." Castle said slowly, grazing her hand with his.

"Or a kiss..." Beckett stepped into him.

Castle closed his eyes, leaning in.

"Alright! Octavia is ready to begin, please take your seats my sensual little firecrackers!"

For the second time that day, they were interrupted.

Castle cursed the air and punched the tree, instantly regretting it as his hand swelled with pain.

He went to put it in his mouth to suck away the pain, but Beckett grabbed it, and much to Castle's disbelief, she kissed each one of his knuckles.

Winking at him, she lead him back to the group circle, still holding his hand.

Sitting down, she gently stroked it with her thumb, and then reluctantly let go.

Castle looked hurt, but Beckett motioned her head toward a woman who was staring at them.

Castle raised his head in acknowledgement.

"My fledglings, I am Octavia, and I am here to teach you about that primal, pheromonal phenomenon known as sex."

The circle shuddered collectively.

"You may think you know what it is to make love to another human being, but unless we have met before; I seriously doubt it."

Castle snorted and he whispered to Beckett. "Thinks a lot of herself, doesn't she?"

But Beckett was entranced by Octavia.

Castle smirked at her obvious captivation and turned his own attention back to Octavia.

"There are many incredibly salacious rituals couples can share, without... touching, for instance."

There was a general scoff from the audience.

"Don't believe me?" Octavia smiled. She moved behind a young couple. "Allow me to demonstrate."

She placed her hands on the necks of both members of the young couple. "Oh, my dears, no, no, no, your pulses are far too rapid so what I want you both do to is... breathe, just breathe." She inhaled deeply. "In"... and out", she exhaled as far as she could. Nobody could even blink as the couple closed their eyes, relaxing completely into her hands.

"There is much to be said for just taking some deep breaths, while having sex. Some will tell you asphyxiation is a high stimulatory for sexual pleasure. I am a huge advocate for the alternative. Life, ladies and gentlemen is such a face-moving monster, deadlines placing constant pressure on one's soul. That moment of release a couple shares shouldn't be treated like a target to be rushed to. The journey is as important as the destination... Stop. Take it in... Breathe."

While Octavia had been talking, she had been caressing the line between the nape of the couple's necks and their shoulders. When she finished her sentence, the both of them moaned aloud.

Members of the group made sounds of awe.

Castle turned to Beckett, grinning, clearly impressed.

She raised her eyebrows, smiling back, and then winked.

He did a double take then, to make sure he hadn't been hallucinating. Again she winked.

Castle reminded himself to do as Octavia had just instructed; and breathe. Still, he couldn't help but get the sense that with that wink, Beckett was giving him something to think about for later.

**A/N: Seeeee? I told you I would fix it ;-)**


	7. Chapter 7 Whispers through a door

**So this is most definitely M - okay? Not appropriate for children...Explicit references and a bit of language.  
><strong>

**If I were to us a Harry Potter-esque scale to rate this chapter for it's level of naughtiness, I would give it a D for Dreadful. The next chapter however, would more likely be graded a T for Troll - mhm... yup  
><strong>

**Until then, you have this... enjoy [mwahahahahaha!]**

When Octavia's seminar was over, the majority of the couples who attended, disappeared and quite suspiciously, were no where to be found for several hours.

Castle and Beckett however opted for a friendly game of tennis, to release their "frustration."

The went over to the courtyard, where they met a feisty young couple named Marcus and Carrie Whetstone.

The couples soon began agreeing on a doubles match, although every five seconds, Carrie would be taking another business call on her cellphone, leaving Marcus looking extremely dejected.

When finally Castle had had enough, he took Carrie aside and snatched her phone off her like she was a disobedient teenager.

"You know cellphones aren't strictly allowed here", he reminded her, dangling the phone over her head.

Carrie folded her arms, tapping her foot on the ground, looking pissed. "I _need_ that phone. You have no idea how much trouble I'm in with my boss for taking a fortnight off to be at this thing."

Castle looked at her, shaking his head. He stood beside her and guided her around to look at her husband. "Think about how much trouble your marriage is in, then decide what's really important here."

Beckett overheard what Castle was saying to Carrie, and she thought to herself "He's turning into a councilor again..."

"Do you love him?" Castle asked her sincerely.

She spun around and glared at him. "What?"

Castle stared her down. She crumbled under his gaze and turned back around to her husband. Her shoulders slumped.

"With all my heart", she sighed.

Castle smiled. "Good, now what are you going to do with the phone?"

He let her have the cellphone and for a moment she stood, holding it in her hand.

After a few moments, she walked over to Marcus and held out the mobile device to him.

"Would you care to do the honors?" Carrie asked him with a grin.

He looked at her strangely for a seconds, until she motioned toward a nearby stream of water with her head.

A beaming smile overtook his whole face and he took the phone off her.

With one more reassuring nod from his wife, Marcus threw the cell phone clear into the water.

For a moment Marcus watched it float down the river in disbelief, until Carrie let out a yelp of glee and jumped into his arms, kissing him all over.

Castle and Beckett watched the couple's exchange from a distance, laughing.

When Carrie finally let Marcus come up for air, he mouthed "Thank you", to Castle.

Castle nodded with a smile and then looked at Beckett who was smiling right back at him.

Castle motioned for her to walk with him, leaving the couple to inevitably make-out in the courtyard.

They walked in contented silence for a while until Beckett broke it, by saying nothing. Her smile spoke louder than words ever could.

"What?" Castle chuckled.

"What you did for them was really nice. _Really_ nice."

Castle looked at her suspiciously. "And yet, you sound cross?"

Beckett inhaled. still smiling. "You're just doing a great job at making it look like these marriage troubles are all my fault."

"Hey! I warned you that's what would happen", Castle joked with her.

Beckett shrugged, biting back a grin. "You just never seem to be able to be quite as prophetic when you're talking to me, as you are when you talk to other women."

Castle didn't miss a beat. "That's because no other woman puts me at a loss for words like you do."

Beckett's jaw dropped slightly, but she managed to cover it up by pretending to yawn.

Castle looked at her gently. "Tired?"

Beckett nodded. "A bit, yeah."

"What do you say we skip dinner and get an early night?" Castle asked, not realizing how couple-y that sounded.

Beckett blushed. "Good plan."

Just then Beckett's phone rang, it was the 12th again. "Esposito", she said to Castle "Might have to rain check on that early night."

Castle laughed.

"Hey Espo, what's up?" She said informally into the phone.

"Hey, so Lanie did a thorough exam of the body this morning and she found something that the Bayonne coroner must have missed."

"What did she find?" Beckett asked, stopping in her tracks. Castle looked at her intrigued. "Hold on, I'm putting you on speaker so Castle can hear you."

"Oh, hey Castle", Esposito said casually once Beckett had put him on speaker phone.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, what'd Lanie find on the body?" Castle rushed him.

Esposito sounded affronted. "Piece of thread. Black leather to be exact."

Beckett's brow furrowed. "We never found any finger prints on the victim's throat. Killer could've been wearing leather gloves."

"Yeah, you're probably right. We matched this particular thread to the material used to make a very pricey pair of Gucci, _womens_ gloves."

Castle raised his eyebrow. "Our victim was strangled during a cat fight?"

"Just because the killer was wearing womens gloves doesn't mean it was a woman who committed the murder, Castle", Beckett reminded him.

"Have you seen any cross-dressers while we've been here?" Castle asked her with a tinge of sarcasm.

Beckett rolled her eyes at him. "OK, we'll keep our eyes peeled for any expensive Gucci mitts lying around the place."

"Cool, I'll send you a picture", Esposito said. "Hey Castle..."

Castle looked at the phone, fearing a lashing.

"If I were Beckett, I wouldn't even be bothering with marriage counseling. I would just dump your ass."

Beckett didn't know whether to look amused or appalled.

Castle made a face at the phone. "Yeah well, I'm sorry Javier, but you're just not my type."

Beckett hung up just as Castle was finishing the last word.

"If you're quite finished", she said to him pointedly. "We still have a murder to solve."

She walked away, leaving him hanging. From his position, he had a perfect view of her butt as she shimmied away from him.

"And quit checking out my ass", she said behind her shoulder.

Castle blinked and hastily went to catch up with her.

Damn, she was scary when she did that.

...

They walked straight to their room and flopped down on the couch, this time choosing to sit next to each other, rather than across from one another.

Castle sighed. "So, we're looking for a woman. More than likely an elitist, or at least a deluded pauper. Probably has a flair for the dramatic. She has to be married of course, but she's unhappy with whomever it is she's with."

Beckett raised her eyebrow at him. "Nice profiling...Doesn't that describe just about every woman here?"

Castle pursed his lips. "Scary thing is, it's sounding a lot like my mother."

Beckett grinned, burying her head in the crook of her elbow, which was resting on top of the couch.

Castle stared at her; god she was cute right now.

"Hey, you should go get some rest", he told her gently.

With lackluster energy, Beckett lifted her head. "Mm, you're right."

"You want me to carry you to bed?" Castle smirked, a glint in his eyes.

Beckett chuckled. "I think I can make it." She rose from the couch.

"Sweet dreams, Mrs. Bexhill", Castle called after her.

...

Next thing Castle new, he was waking, bleary-eyed on the couch. He must have fallen asleep, pretty quickly after Beckett had left him alone in the living room.

He felt the instant urge to pee, so he got up from the couch and stretched, his bones creaking delightfully.

He strode to the bathroom door and reached out for the handle, just when he was about to turn it, he heard a soft moan coming from inside.

He squinted, and backed away from the door. Looking toward the bedroom he and Beckett shared, he saw that the door was open with no Beckett in sight. He approached the bathroom door again hesitantly. "Kate?" He said softly.

He heard her gasp from inside.

"Castle", her breathy reply made parts of him tingle.

And then another moan.

"Holy shit." Castle thought to himself, not taking another second to figure out exactly what she was doing in there.

Tentatively, he leaned up against the bathroom door and put his ear to it. He could hear her trying to hold back her groans - he so wished she wouldn't.

"Kate" - another moan. Castle stood, rooted to the spot for several delirious minutes. Finally he said; with more authority than he thought his voice could manage - "Breathe Kate."

As loudly and as purposefully as he could, he began to inhale and exhale as deeply as his lungs would allow. Almost instantly he could hear her own breathing matching his rhythmic tempo.

"Ohhh, Castle."

Castle's cock twitched in his increasingly tightening underwear.

"That g-good huh?" He chocked out.

"Mmmm", came her uncontrolled reply.

"Kate..." Castle murmured unsurely to the door. She seemed to understand what he wanted straight away.

"Do it Castle... Please."

Without any further encouragement, Castle shoved his right hand into his pants and began stroking his now fully engorged member.

"Ugh", he grunted, biting down hard on his bottom lip, making a fist with his unengaged left hand.

Inside, Beckett moaned again and whispered. "Breathe Rick"

Holy hell! If his cock was engorged before, it was nothing compared to the hot stiff rod he held in his hand, after hearing his first name spilling out of her sweet lips.

He made a noise somewhere between a cough and a laugh. "I'm trying, it's not easy when my pulse is so god damned high."

"Try harder...for me", Beckett egged him on.

Again he chocked. "That's not helping my pulse, Detective."

Beckett breathed deliberately slow and loud, until Castle finally managed to calm his breathing down to match hers.

"Better?" She asked him with a sly tone.

"Ohhh, fuck", he growled, banging on the bathroom door.

Beckett tipped her head back, screaming out, unashamedly.

Castle's speech was now a constant slurry of ecstasy.

"Oh Kate, so close... I'm so close Kate."

Beckett and Castle's screams were surely loud enough to be heard by the whole retreat, but at that moment they couldn't give a rats arse.

"Cum with me Castle... Beckett breathed.

At this, Castle lost any self control he thought he had and shamelessly shot his load against the bathroom door, swearing in beautiful agony as he did so.

At the same instant, Beckett screamed like a banshee, her whole body wracking with her orgasm.

For a moment, the two of them were silent, still breathing as calmly as they could, making their releases last.

Several minutes of slightly buzzing heads, and racing hearts went by, before Beckett cleared her throat.

"I didn't really sleep much before." Her voice rung out suddenly.

Castle lifted his sweaty brow from the door, thinking she was about to ask him to leave her for a while.

But instead, she said something she'd never have been brave enough to say, if it weren't for him interrupting her intense masturbation session, a few minutes prior.

"Why don't you go jump into bed, and I'll meet you there soon?"

Castle's felt like his heart had turned into a balloon, expanding in his chest.

He felt dizzy and weightless - Kate Beckett, the most well-guarded woman he knew had just shared with him one of the most private, intimate things a woman can experience; not only shared it; but delighted and thrived in sharing it. And now, instead of predictably trying to escape the awkwardness of it, by putting up her usual wall, it seemed she was finally ready to invite him onto her side of the divide.

"Kay", was all he could manage to say to her.

He walked, zombie-like to the bedroom and flopped onto the right side of the bed.

He relaxed into the softness of the bed. He felt euphoric; the wildest of his dreams that he'd been dreaming for close to four years had just became a very intense reality...

...

After a few minutes of collecting herself, Beckett moved, in a dazed state, from the bathroom, to the bedroom. She couldn't believe how unabashed she had felt doing what she had just done with Castle.

Never in a million years did she think she would ever do something so erotically daring with a man, but with Castle it just felt so natural, and so incredible.

As she came to the door of their shared bedroom, she paused for a moment, before opening it, expecting to see Castle, sprawled out on the bed, in all his naked glory.

What she found however, made her want him even more.

He had fallen asleep.

Lying flat on his stomach, mouth open, and arms and legs sprawled carelessly.

She beamed, and licked her lips. Not bothering to climb under the covers for fear of disturbing him, she gently climbed on top of the blankets and crawled silently over to his beautiful, peaceful form.

Leaning into him, she licked his ear lobe seductively. She grinned. knowing what a stir she would have caused had he been awake. But he was sleeping, a small smile on his face.

He was dreaming of her. Of _them_

Barely audibly, she whispered in his ear. "Well it was good for me, was it good for you?"

In his stupor, he sighed contentedly.

Beckett lifted his am from the bed and placed it around herself, cuddling into his side, where she instantly found that familiar warmth.

She really didn't know where exactly they would take things from here. How fast or slow they might move.

What she did know however was that there was no turning back now. Looking over at his adorable, snoring figure, she smiled, thinking how wonderful it was that they had no other option but to go forward from this point. She knew that this right now was the closest they'd ever physically been to making love, but they were lovers in every sense of the word, she knew they had been for four years.

Before she fell asleep to dream on all of life's new possibilities, she caressed her lover's face, and whispered softly...

"Goodnight Mr. Bexhill."

**A/N: So it was good for Beckett, how was it for you? :-p**


	8. Chapter 8 Tonguetied Innuendoes

Castle woke up after an incredible dream.

He'd dreamt that Beckett had done something so out of character for the young cop and he had been completely under her spell the whole time.

Tantalizingly close, they had refrained from ever touching. It had been the most erotic few minutes of Castle's life. Thinking about it now, he was unsure why the dream version of him hadn't just burst into that bathroom and taken her right then and there.

God knows, they'd had years of building up to it. Any other dream or fantasy he'd ever had about her, he'd taken mere seconds to ravish her within an inch of her wits end. And vice-versa.

In any case, the dream he had just awoken from had been one of the hottest he'd ever had.

Those thoughts running through his mind again... he couldn't help himself.

He went to reach under the covers to touch his throbbing mass, but two things stopped him. Firstly; there were no covers, and secondly; something was restricting his arm keeping it pinned to the mattress.

He turned his head slightly to the left and was greeted with the sight of a thick, messy head of long luscious brown hair.

Holy hell... it had been a dream; hadn't it?

Incredibly, what happened next, told him it had not.

Beckett turned over sleepily to look at him. Her hazel eyes shone as she took in her first morning glimpse of him.

Her cheeks flushed for a second, as he obviously couldn't take his eyes off of her. She bit her lip, smiling at him shyly, as her hand stroked his chest.

"Hey" she said simply.

Castle's body was in shock, as he recounted 'the dream', thinking surely it couldn't possibly have been anything else.

"It was real?" He finally asked her, disbelievingly.

She shook her head, no.

Crap. His heart sank.

She shuffled as close as she could without the two of them actually becoming one, and wrapped her leg around his, kneeing his groin. "Something that good, could only be a fairy tale", she whispered seductively.

Castle spluttered.

Beckett's smile grew wider by the second, as she used her hands on his shoulders to pull herself on top of him. Flicking her hair out of her eyes, she leaned her head forward and lightly kissed his jawbone.

Pulling away, they looked at each other, eyes burning with desire.

Castle grabbed a handful of her hair and forcibly brought her lips crashing down on his.

Beckett moaned as their tongues fought for dominance. She went slack, letting him control her movements.

He pinned her to him with his arm, swallowing every morsel of her mouth he could.

Pulling his tongue out of her mouth, he licked every inch of her face, wanting to taste as much of her as he could. He bit down on her neck, hard, causing her to inhale sharply.

He roughly pushed his lips on hers again, once again choreographing a tango with their tongues.

After several bliss-filled minutes, he finally pulled away, panting for air.

Beckett's lust-filled eyes took him in. She rolled off the hardness she had created in his pants, making him groan loudly.

She traced the line of his chin with her index finger and purred, "Breathe, Rick."

With one last wicked grin, she rose from the bed and left him lying there.

Left him for dead.

...

After showering (A cold shower), Castle went out to the kitchen in his boxers and robe that he left undone, showing his bare chest. He went to the cupboards to get some cups to make coffee. He then went to the refrigerator to get out some milk.

A wolf whistle came from behind him.

He turned around to find Liz and Beckett both trying to hide their laughter at the sight of him.

"Gah!" He yelped, pulling his robe tightly closed.

Castle had almost forgotten that he and Beckett were sharing a room with Tom and Liz; it suddenly hit him how stupid he'd been last night not to lock the front door.

"S-sorry", Castle apologized.

"Hey, if Maria doesn't mind that I don't mind... then I sure don't mind", Liz joked, grinning.

Beckett laughed. "I don't mind one bit."

Castle chuckled. "Well in that case, private viewings are ten dollars."

Liz laughed.

Beckett looked at Castle adoringly. "Hey, I made you one already", she said, pointing to a steaming cup of coffee sitting on the small kitchen table.

She walked over to him and whispered. "It's amazing, I am actually capable of making coffee here." She nudged him.

Castle laughed and put his arm around her, kissing her hair. "Thank you" he smiled down at her.

She smiled back, understanding how much that one word of gratitude actually covered.

"Aww... would you just look at you two!" Liz cooed. "You look like you've only just become a couple."

Castle and Beckett let go of each other quickly, both looking guilty.

Liz pursed her lips, turning away from them. "That Octavia must have some gift."

Castle and Beckett's jaws simultaneously dropped.

...

A couple of hours later, Castle and Beckett were attending a team building exercise where they had to be tied up to each other, and then work together to release themselves from the rope. They were to race other couples.

Once they were tied up, the bright yellow rope constricting even their arms, they were told to begin.

Castle's tongue stuck out of his mouth a little bit, as it did when he was intently thinking.

Beckett looked up at him, not caring about the race, only caring about being so close to him.

"Maria! Come on..." Castle egged her on.

Beckett broke out of her trance. "Right, umm... No, no Cas- ah Tony. I meant right as in OK, not right as in move your right arm!"

Castle had tried moving his right arm out and had become even more hopelessly tangled.

"Maybe if we wiggle our hips, some of it might loosen up a bit and then we can at least move our legs." Castle suggested.

"Ok, let's try it", Beckett agreed.

Before she knew what he was going to do, Castle was jumping up and down, the constrains so tight that he was dragging her with him.

Their bodies clashed against each other each time they jumped. The fleeting friction made Beckett ache between her legs.

She tried to focus on the ropes - getting them off... "So we can get off", her brain added.

She shook her head, slightly ashamed at herself.

Finally the ropes became less constrictive and Castle tried to free his left arm. He lifted it up halfway when it got stuck again.

Beckett gasped. His hand was touching her breast. That's it - she was a goner.

"Mr. Bexhill", she said through gritted teeth, sex dripping from her mouth. "Get these ropes off. Now."

The fire in her eyes gave him a whole new incentive.

He flailed his body around, using his head, his elbow, his teeth, anything he could to get the rope off.

Finally it loosened enough that Beckett was able to get one of her arms free.

With surprising strength, she tore the ropes from herself, and then went behind Castle, intentionally pushing herself right into him. Putting her arms around his chest; she buried her head in his shoulder and very discretely bit his collarbone. As he yelped in pleasurable pain, she pulled him him free from his bounds.

He spun around to her instantly, wanting to take her right there.

"Folks! It looks like we have a winner!" The man officiating the competition said.

The other couples clapped for them. Beckett knew they should be graciously thanking everyone but she just couldn't tear her eyes from Castle.

The announcer handed her a box of chocolates, which she took without looking at him.

Castle grabbed her tightly and for a moment, they shared what appeared to be a loving hug, but it was actually Castle rubbing himself on Beckett, priming her and himself for what he was about to do.

"Let's get out of here", He blew softly into her hear.

Beckett shuddered.

Pulling back from each other, she nodded.

Holding hands, they ran; after no more than ten steps however, that old familiar wedding march began to play.

Beckett froze, the aching in her heart that matched the one between her legs, was threatening to make her collapse. She stomped her foot, frustrated.

Castle cupped her face. "Let's just bail on the stupid group session," he said.

Beckett bit her lip, hating what she had to say. She shook her head sadly. "We have to go; we still have a killer to catch, remember? We have to find her."

Castle made a face and tore open the box of chocolates, offering one to Beckett, which she swallowed hungrily. "There's no way chocolate wins over sex", she said plainly.

Castle held back a smile and looked at her lustfully as he brought a rose shaped chocolate to his mouth, expertly swirling his tongue around it, flicking the petals with the tip of his talented wet organ.

The sight of it made Beckett soak right through her underwear.

Castle sucked on it and then finally put it in his mouth.

Chewing, he brought his mouth to her ear again. "Something to think about for later", he whispered.

He closed the box of chocolates and pocketed them, walking over to where the group circle was being held.

Beckett just stood, composing herself.

This time it was _his_ turn to leave _her_ for dead.

...

"I'd like to talk about how important it is to have trust in a relationship. For instance, Mrs. Whetstone, if your husband were to go out on a business date with an attractive young female executive, would you be comfortable with that?" Murray asked Carrie Whetstone, the woman Beckett and Castle had played tennis with the day before.

"No, I wouldn't", Carrie said truthfully.

"Is it because you wouldn't be sure if you could trust him?" Murray asked.

"No, I know I could trust him, it's just that other little tart that I wouldn't be sure about", Carrie told him, earning a laugh from the circle.

"And why is that?" Murray asked, raising his eyebrows.

Carrie shrugged. "Look at him, he's gorgeous."

Beside her, Marcus gazed at her lovingly.

Carrie smiled as he took her hand.

"He's funny, intelligent, athletic."

"Your perfect match", Marcus said to her.

Carrie's smile widened tenfold.

Murray smiled. "Ladies and gentlemen, it is good to be protective enough of your partner, that you would feel uncomfortable if they were to spend time with somebody else. The trick is believing your partner when they tell you they won't cheat on you. If you can believe that with complete certainty, then you're half-way there. If your spouse were to go on a date with a supermodel and you _weren__'__t_ jealous - that would be cause for slight concern."

Murray looked over at Castle and Beckett who seemed to be avoiding each other.

"Mrs Bexhill?" He said, getting Beckett's attention.

"Would you be jealous, say if Tony were to go on a date with a beautiful, glamorous television actress?"

Castle placed his full attention on her then.

Beckett swallowed a lump in her throat. "Actually, that has happened before, and I've never told him before now but..." She bit her lip. "It drove me insane."

Beside her, Castle tried to hold back a smirk.

"I never knew that!" He feigned surprise.

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Which one?" He whispered.

"Which one do you think?" Beckett asked him, like it should be obvious.

"Natalie Rhodes", he said, tilting his head back.

Several of the men started. "You had a date with Natalie Rhodes?"

Castle grinned. "I know."

Seeing the crushed look on Beckett's face, he put his hand on her knee. "But hey, you haven't seen this woman in an evening gown. I tell you, folks. When my girl's in a room, it's like... Natalie who?"

Beckett blushed. "Thank you, Tony."

Murray smiled again. "Thank you both. That concludes our session today. Now don't forget, tonight we're doing our very romantic, "two at one with nature" camp-out, so if you want to be involved in that, please pre-register before you go."

"Hey, this sounds like a golden opportunity, right? We should totally go." Castle said to Beckett.

"Why Tony, so you can have your wicked way with me in the woods?" Beckett smirked.

"The sounds of nature, sitting by the campfire, under the stars - I thought it would be romantic", Castle said innocently.

"Oh, you want romance", Beckett drawled, toying with him. "And here was me only wanting you for your body." She left Castle standing there to pick his mouth up off the ground.

Kate 2 - Rick 1.

...

Four hours later, after they'd had dinner, and it had begun to get dark; Castle and Beckett trudged with about a dozen other couples, through a nearby forest. They had hung back to be able to stare longingly at each other without anybody intruding.

Occasionally they would bump arms, which would send a shiver coursing through both of them.

The silence had been tense between them, as they could hear the rest of the group ahead, chatting loudly.

"So Castle, you ever fantasize about taking Natalie Rhodes up against a tree?" Beckett whispered, eyes locked with his.

Castle stopped her instantly, by pulling her off to the side of the track. He leaned over to within an inch of her.. "There's never been any woman, I ever fantasized about doing half the things to, that I'm going to do to you tonight", He growled, leaving Beckett swaying on the spot.

And just like that, the scores were tied.

**Bwahaha - nearly had you going at the start there didn't I? ... Sorry. [Looks innocent] How can I repay you? Caskett sex in the woods you say? **

**Hmm... OK, come back next chapter ;-)**


	9. Chapter 9 Into the Woods

**So you guys have to be the best readers a fangirl could ask for, like seriously :D **

**Pretty sure, you'll enjoy this chapter... I hope you do anyway!**

By the time the group arrived at their camping spot, they were in complete darkness, save for the small glistening light coming from the torches the two counselors were holding.

Their were no stars to romantically lie underneath and watch, but there was a full bright moon above them that looked magical and eerie, such as in a story book.

It reminded Castle of wolves howling at the moon. Hungry, drooling, predatory creatures of the night... Suddenly it hit him that tonight, he felt like a wolf himself.

He turned to see Beckett's beautiful face lit up by the torch of a nearby counselor.

She was laughing at a joke she'd just been told by a woman a few years older than her.

Castle's eyes brightened as he heard her laughter, the rare sound always made his heart skip a beat.

She caught his eyes fleetingly, they were lit up by the camp fire that had just been built, and when she saw them, hers lit up all of their own accord.

Electricity danced between them, the connection tripped for a moment however when one of the counselors spoke.

"OK, campers. You've all got your compasses, so there will be no excuse for you all not to be right back here by eight in the morning. Now go and find a spot to spend the night with your special someone. And I'm warning you now, if you're not here by eight a.m. I _will_ send out a search party, and I'm pretty sure no one here wants to be caught with their pants around their ankles."

The couples stared blankly at the young counselor.

He just smiled cheekily. "Figuratively speaking, of course. Now you kids go and have some fun."

The couples all began to migrate away slowly.

Castle walked over to Beckett and scoffed at the young counselor's comment. "He's calling us kids? Pfft, he's young enough to be dating Alexis." He was sifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other, like he was all of a sudden extremely nervous.

Beckett grabbed the lapel of his jacket. "Castle, as much as I really think the world of your daughter, can we please not talk about her right now?"

"Uh, sure", he said, but not really understanding why.

Beckett saw the confusion on his face. "It's just that those "things" you were saying you wanted to do to me earlier, they've got me _really_ intrigued, and all I can think of when I picture Alexis hearing you say that is... Daaad, gross." She did her best impression of a teenage girl.

Castle laughed anxiously. "Yeah that sounds... like her."

"Rick", Beckett said, fixing her other hand on the other side of his neck.

His heart hammered beneath her hand.

"Your pulse is high", she said seriously.

"You make me nervous", he admitted.

Beckett looked at him. "Well then what I want you to do for me is just..." She blew into his ear. "Breathe."

He felt his whole body react to her touch, and to that one word, that only they would ever know the secret meaning behind.

"You know... I was thinking of calling my next book, Breathing Heat", Castle slurred.

Beckett ran her fingers seductively over his collarbone. "Mm, care to give me a sneak peek?"

The whole dynamic of their conversation changed, when Castle grabbed her hand, and practically sprinted through the forest, not caring about the branches of trees that were slapping his face with every step. That pain was nothing, right now, the not giving into his needs by taking Beckett straight away, where all the world could see, was one of the most intense agonies he'd ever experienced (coming second only to when she had nearly died in his arms after being shot.)

Finally, they got to a small clearing, where the voices of the rest of the group were barely audible.

Looking around one more time, for anybody that might bee watching them, Castle placed his hands on Beckett's neck, holding her head up to look at him.

For a fleeting moment she saw nothing but love in his eyes, but soon that love turned to lust, as he slid his hands down to her shoulders and shoved her violently into a tree, firmly planting his mouth on hers before she could gasp in surprise.

The bark of the tree scratched her back, making the movement even more erotic.

She moaned into his mouth, her hands instantly latching onto his hair.

A flicker of desire pulsed inside of her, as his hot, wet mouth went to her neck, sucking hard, she couldn't help it, she moaned again, biting down on her lip.

Her hands traveled from his hair to his neck and shoulders, and then finally back to his hair again, as he made his way down her sleek figure, kissing every bit of her he could reach; clothed or unclothed.

He sucked through her thin shirt beneath an open jacket. Wetting the area where her breasts were. She licked her lips, her hands tugging on locks of his thick hair.

His mouth continued it's journey down her body, until he was on his knees in front of her. He lifted her shirt slightly, to kiss the line just above her jeans, making her gasp at the coldness of the air, and then the instant heat from his mouth. It gave her goosebumps, and made her stomach burn all the same instant.

Slickly, Castle undid her zipper, now licking his own lips.

He pulled her jeans down around her knees, making her squirm in anticipation.

Tracing kisses up her long legs, his fingers slowly worked the thin fabric of her underwear, torturing her by not getting them off quick enough. She reached down, forcing his hands to work faster, he laughed into her thigh. Finally he slid them around her knees, caressing her butt as he did so, instantly making her buck her hips in his direction.

He reached up to press his hands against her stomach, holding her down against the tree, reminding her to keep breathing.

With one last look up into her desiring eyes, his mouth was launched onto her mound.

She screamed in blissful awakening, as his tongue darted into her. He moaned appreciatively at how her juices tasted.

Lapping them up, his tongue circled her clitoris, flicking it gently with the tip.

She wined desperately as she tried to keep her breathing steady, the deep breathing only making her gasp loudly each time she inhaled.

His mouth continued to work her with precision, the pleasurable noises spilling from her lips, giving Castle the motivation to work faster.

"Fuck, Castle!" Beckett screamed between gasps.

He moaned himself, as his pants grew tighter, he couldn't wait to be inside of her any longer, and with one decisive lick of her most sensitive part, he felt her walls collapse around his mouth, her voice, an steady torrent of curse words, as she shook against him violently.

Her voice shuddered, as she tried to steady her breathing.

He quickly stepped back from her, undoing his belt and pulling out his cock through the slit in his pants.

Not waiting for encouragement or permission (not that Beckett was protesting); Castle shoved himself into her. She yelped as she adjusted to his size inside of her.

He growled as he slowly began to move in her, it was agonizing for him to not force himself on her, but for as much pain as it gave him that's how pleasurable he wanted it to be for Beckett.

She finally granted him full entry and they both swore at once.

Castle placed his lips on hers, allowing her to taste her own saltiness on his tongue.

They moaned into each others' mouths, and then broke apart to focus more on their breathing. For every breath, they clashed together eight times. Castle held her hips down to give himself more leverage. He pumped into her with vigor, making them both scream continuously.

Unable to move her head back in ecstasy, because he had her body firmly pinned to the tree, she bent forward, placing her chin on his shoulder, and then bit into it to keep herself steady. He sucked in sharply at this. "Oh Kate... oh gah-god Kate!"

This initiated a back and forth of calling out each other's names, both totally confused and at the same time, completely clear-headed.

Their bodies slapped hard together every time they met. As they reached their wits end, Beckett dug her nails deep into Castle's shoulders.

"Ohhh, Castle, oh god Rick!"

"Shit!" Castle swore, clenching his teeth.

As they both climaxed, spilling their seed into each other, they cried out a symphony of sounds, accompanied by crickets and owls. Making them feel slightly animalistic.

For several minutes, they rested up against each other, shuddering with heaving breaths.

Castle ran his hands up and down her bare ass checks making her shiver slightly.

"Mr. Bexhill, I have to say I'm slightly disappointed at how much clothing you still have on your person, while I'm here freezing my ass off, for your benefit."

Castle squinted at her in the dark. "Oh, I see, that was for my benefit was it? Well, in that case, I'd be more than happy to return the favor."

Beckett smirked at him, fully intending to "let" him do just that.

"Oh no I wouldn't dream of putting you out like that", Beckett teased him, yelping when he pinched her backside.

"Oh it wouldn't be any skin off my back", Castle said, kissing her neck.

Beckett grinned. "Mm, speaking of which, my back does feel a little bit like it's gone through a paper shredder, so do you mind if we break out the bed rolls, before you give me the honor?"

Castle instantly paused in his assault on her neck, and pulled away to bend down to their packs. She blushed at his enthusiasm, as he cursed when the piece of string tying the bed rolls wouldn't untie as quickly as he wanted it to. She walked up behind him and knelt down, reaching around his waist, she put her hands on his, making him pause in his movements for a second, as her hand brushed purposefully against the protruding lump in his pants.

"Allow me to help you with that", she whispered in his ear, making him groan.

He grabbed her hands in his and threw them off himself. He turned around and slid his arm past her bare thigh. Beckett's breath caught in her throat when she thought he was going to take her again, right there on the ground.

She was almost disappointed when he drew back again, holding a sharp pointed stick.

Whirling back around, he took the stick immediately to the string and tore it forcefully from his bed roll.

Tossing the stick aside, he pivoted his body slightly as he unfolded the thin mattress out onto the leaves. Beckett used his angle to her advantage as she pushed him down onto the bed roll. He landed with an "umph."

With one more devilish grin, she unbuttoned his pants slowly, torturing him for just a moment, until he bucked his hips upward, prompting her.

She laughed at his eagerness, and undid his fly hastily. He lifted himself up instantly, so she could slip his pants down, forgetting to remove his shoes.

"Ah, jesus, it's freezing!" He yelled.

Beckett didn't respond, she simply grabbed his inflamed dick in her warm hand and began to stroke him.

He groaned throatily at her touch.

"OK, so why are we doing this outside in the state of New York in the middle of November again?" Castle choked out, saying any kind of nonsense he could to keep himself from blowing his load too soon.

"It was your brilliant idea", Beckett told him.

"Well, you didn't exactly protest -ahhh!" Castle screamed out as Beckett's mouth was suddenly surrounding him.

"Fuck, Beckett!" He yelled, grabbing a fist full of leaves.

Her tongue slid up and down his shaft, driving him slowly crazy.

"Ohhhh god", he panted.

She took all of his impressive length into her warm mouth, and then out, sucking him off with her lips.

"I'm gonna cum... Kate, I'm gonna cum", he barely whispered, rising himself up from the ground, pumping deep into her throat.

He balled his fists in her luscious lengths of hair, and grunted loudly, coming apart in her mouth.

Laying back with exhaustion, he pulled her down by her hair to lay on top of him.

For a while they lay their listening to the sound of their own breathing, mixed with a chorus of the wind and the nocturnal creatures that roamed the dense forest. Both with tops on and no bottoms.

A small gust of wind gathered the leaves around them, and Beckett shivered against Castle's chest.

He ran his fingers up her arm, gently. "I'll get the sleeping bag." But she held him down.

"No, let's just... can we just stay here like this for a little longer?" She asked with a slight plead in her voice, enjoying the way their legs felt against each other.

Castle grinned. "I never thought I'd hear you plead and whine, Detective, let alone twice in two days."

"Why do we need a blanket, when we're creating our own special kind of... well, you know." She trailed off, kissing his neck.

"Body heat?" He suggested.

She smiled into his shirt. "Precisely."

They lay quite comfortably, intertwined with one another.

Castle sighed contentedly. "We definitely have to come here again."

Beckett bit her lip. "Deal. But next time can we not be The Bexhills?"

Castle laughed as he heard the distaste in her mouth.

"Next time, you can be Kate and I will be Rick", he kissed her hair.

Beckett froze at that. Was he suggesting that one day they would be married?

"If the sex is always going to be that great, we'll never need this place."

Castle laughed again, making her heart burst with love for him.

After a few moments of silence and gentle relaxed breathing, Castle rose up to finally get the sleeping bag out of Beckett's pack.

He lay it gently over her and then climbed in himself, where she instantly reclaimed her place against his chest.

He kissed her again as she relaxed into him. "Goodnight Kate."

She blinked under sleepy eyes and wrapped her arms around him tighter, just before they gave in to sleep. "Goodnight Rick."


	10. Chapter 10 Tom's confession

**So for all you French speaking people out there, there happens to be one line in this story in French. I do not speak French AT ALL, so please don't shoot me if it is wrong - blame Google Translate! **

**In other news... thanks so much for all your amazing comments, you guys are truly the best!  
><strong>

**Enjoy!**

Beckett woke up to greet a chilly morning, her feet instantly felt numb with the cold.

Feeling Castle spooning her, she felt his warmth surround her however.

She curled her legs behind her, his bare legs offering much needed heat to her bare feet.

The cold sting against his legs woke him up and he moved his legs away from Beckett sleepily.

Beckett made a groan of complaint, and followed his legs back, weaseling her feet in between his legs.

He knew the game she was playing and he wasn't having a bar of it. He moved his legs back even further, so that they were hanging out of the bed.

She groaned again as she realized she was beat. With a strong buck of her hips backwards however, she pushed Castle off the mattress completely.

He fell out of the mattress, and onto the cold, wet leaves. He squealed as his bare ass was wetted by the cold leaves, and sat up quickly.

He jumped back onto the mattress and tackled Beckett. "You little witch! Push me out of bed, will ya!" She screamed with laughter as he shook and tickled her.

He grabbed her by her shirt and not knowing how light she would be, lifted her flush to him, as he rolled her off the bed and sat on top of her.

"Ah!" She squeaked. "Castle, get off me, I'm getting wet!"

"Wouldn't be the first time I've made you wet then would it... sweet cheeks?" Castle grinned.

"Sweet cheeks?" Beckett chuckled. "More like frozen cheeks - ah! I'm serious Castle, I don't have any more tops with me and I'm going to get hypothermia if I have to walk back in this."

"You really didn't bring _any_ other tops with you?" Castle asked her in disbelief.

She shook her head, embarrassed.

Castle shrugged. "Well just wear one of mine, I've got like four dress shirts and two tees."

Beckett tried to hide her ridiculously large smile. "You're so incredibly metro."

"Yeah well, I don't know what I was thinking suggesting you were a fashion designer, when you obviously have no sense of looking good whatsoever", Castle deliberately teased her.

Beckett's mouth fell open, but she couldn't shake the smile from her lips. "You _love_ the way I look... don't think I don't see you checking me out every chance you get."

"Yeah well, I must admit I'm quite favorable about this outfit you've got going on here, in fact I'd like to see this more often", he scanned her half-naked body.

Beckett looked down at herself totally forgetting that she was wearing no underwear, let alone pants.

"Castle!" She squealed, hitting him hard on the chest, he laughed.

She tried to get up from under him but he pinned her to his chest.

"Why would we need pants when our legs fit soooo well on each other?" He growled.

Beckett tried to say something but she faltered. Castle took the opportunity of her silence to place his mouth on hers, kissing the life out of her.

She moaned appreciatively when his tongue met with hers. As soon as she moaned, he pulled his head back, leaving her mouth open and empty.

"Shh", he whispered putting his fingers to his lips. "Do you hear something?"

"What?" Beckett said, instantly wrestling him off her to retrieve her pants, but Castle pulled her back down beside him, laughing.

Beckett gaped at him. "Castle, you bastard!"

He was still laughing as she tackled him to the ground pinning him down.

She beat him thoroughly to the ground, punching and kicking any part of him she could get to, but not with any real force.

"Help, help - dirty cop - assaulting a civilian!" Castle cried out.

Beckett gasped. "Castle - shush!"

Castle grimaced. "Sorry."

Beckett smiled at him and he soon started laughing again, she shook her head, giving into the contagious giggling. She leaned forward collapsing with laughter and falling onto him.

Tears collected in their eyes, and their cheeks flushed.

'Oh my god, oh my god, my stomach!" Castle coughed.

Suddenly, Beckett gasped. "Shhh", she hissed, listening intently.

"Oh no, I'm not falling for one of my own tricks!" Castle wagged his index finger at her.

"No, Castle, seriously, I think I hear people coming", she got off him with lightening speed and raced to put her jeans on.

"Beckett... pants!" He whispered to her fervently, as he could now hear approaching voices. She threw them at him hurriedly and he slipped his legs into them, going commando in his haste.

"Pack up the bed roll", Beckett commanded him.

"Uh... shit!" Castle swore.

"What?" Beckett said, frightened.

"We broke the string last night."

"So?" Beckett shook her head, and held her hands out, not knowing what the problem was.

"How am I going to tie it up?" He asked, anxiously.

Her answer was not given however, because at that moment, the group of the rest of the campers came into view.

"Ah, Tony, Maria... top of the morning to ya!" The annoying young counselor greeted them.

"You guys didn't happen to hear some strange noises last night did you? Grunting and such like - was pretty sure it was coming from over this direction." The second counselor asked them.

Beckett flushed scarlet, Castle cleared his throat. "Probably an opossum."

"Naw, I think it were a wild boar - we got some big ol' nasty suckers in our woods back home", a southern man's voice came.

The group had started shifting. The young counselor moved around to where Beckett stood, and bent down about 5 feet from her.

"Well, I'm pretty sure no wild boar was wearing these", he said, amused.

Dangling from his finger was Castle's discarded underwear.

Beckett's eyes widened, horrified. Castle took the underwear from the man with an embarrassed smile.

Beckett's humiliation was furthered when the Southerner pointed at her shirt. "You two been for an early morning swim? That shirt is soaked right through."

Beckett's mouth opened indignantly, and she folded her arms over her breasts, covering them from prying eyes.

"Hey... pal, you checking out my wife?" Castle stepped in front of the man and poked him in the chest.

"N-no sir, of course not, it's just pretty rude of a feller not to point out when a lady might be in need of a fresh shirt."

"Hey! It's even more rude of a "Feller" to point out to a gentleman that his wife's shirt is soaked through... like he's looking at her... intently." He narrowed his eyes at the man, stepping intimidatingly close to him.

"OK, OK, break it up guys, come on, let's all keep the peace here alright?" The young counselor stepped between them. "Mr. Bexhill, we'll leave you and your wife to dress yourselves properly. You can meet the rest of us up ahead?"

Castle nodded. "Yeah, sure." His eyes stayed locked on the Southerner.

"Come on Bill!" His wife said; embarrassed, dragging him away by his sleeve.

The group migrated away slowly, still staring back at Castle and Beckett, some doing a better job at hiding their laughter than others.

When they had disappeared over a rise in the track, Beckett let out a cry. "Oh my god, that was the most embarrassing moment of my life!"

Castle raised his eyebrows. "Really? Wouldn't even make my top 10."

Beckett snorted. "For someone who talks so much, there is still so much about the man that is a mystery."

Castle laughed. "Yeah well, believe me, where that particular list is concerned you probably don't want to know."

Beckett smiled, shaking her head. "How did I end up with someone like you?"

Castle grinned, strolling toward her. "You've "ended up" with me have you? Meaning no plans to ignore this whole thing ever happened when we get back to normality?"

She took his hands in hers. "You know what Rick. When we're together like this, honestly, it feels like this _is_ normality, and that the precinct, the books... are all fiction."

Castle squinted, still grinning. "Well, the books are actually fiction, but..."

"Castle..." Beckett rolled her eyes.

He pursed his lips. "Sorry", he apologized, nodding for her to continue.

"This is just so natural for us. I mean, for the past four years I've been totally shutting off from any feelings I had for you because I was afraid that it might ruin our flow, our banter, and most importantly our friendship. But when I'm with you, I feel like I'm with my best friend, my partner and my lover all at once... it should be so confusing, but it's actually really simple", she shrugged.

Castle smiled at her with so much love. Picking up her hands, bringing them to his lips one at a time, he placed a tender kiss on each of them."I feel the same. And hey, I'm sorry about before, I know how you feel about me trying to protect you."

Kate shook her head. "Oh, please, that great slobbering buffoon? One more comment and he's the one that would've needed protecting."

Castle grimaced. "Oooh, careful Maria, your Beckett is showing."

Beckett laughed.

"Come on you absolutely beautiful woman, you. Let's find you a shirt to wear huh? Blue is your best color I think..."

"Oh man, you don't even know how much of a boulevardier you sound sometimes do you?

"Wow, impressive linguistics you've got going on lately, Detective. I must be rubbing off on you... Do you speak French?"

"Ah, Oui, monsieur, et vous étaient très certainement déteint sur moi la nuit dernière."

Castle paused for a moment, open mouthed. "That. Was. So. Hot." He drooled, catching up to her. "What did you say?"

Her laughter echoed through the open air of the forest.

...

When they got back to the base of the retreat, the campers dispersed. Castle and Beckett headed to their room. Tom and Liz were out so they went straight to their bedroom to put their things away.

Beckett couldn't help but notice how much more at ease their back-and-forth had become since they were here only yesterday.

She changed her tramping shoes for slightly dressier ones and pulled her hair out of her eyes, tying it up in a lose bun.

After Castle had a shave, he came out the bathroom, to see Beckett sitting on the edge of the bed, smiling up at him.

"What?" He grinned at her.

She shrugged. "I don't know, I just... I really like this new us."

Castle chuckled. "New us?" He stepped toward her so that her face was level with his stomach.

"Yeah", she put her hands on his hips, tugging him down to sit next to her.

"Who knew that when we finally got here this ever would be so..." She shrugged. "Good."

Castle smiled caressing her cheek with his thumb. "So many appropriate, and far more eloquent words, and yet that one is just so perfect."

He placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

Beckett sighed, it was the first kiss they had shared where there had been no pent up aggression or seething passion, All that had been in the secret message of that kiss, was love.

"Honeys, we're home!" Liz's voice, sounded from the living room.

Castle winked at Beckett in a silent promise to continue this later.

They walked out into the living room and found Tom and Liz setting down their coats. Liz shivered. "Ooh, it's cold out there today! How was your night, did you freeze out there?"

"Actually we managed to keep ourselves pretty warm", Beckett said, surprising Castle with the suggestiveness in her voice.

Liz raised her eyebrows, beaming. "Oh?"

She walked over to Beckett and linked her arm through the young detective's.

"Boys, why don't you make some coffee, this young lady and I are going to have a little girl talk", she instructed Tom and Castle.

She dragged Beckett to her and Tom's bedroom, muttering "Come on, spill." Making Beckett laugh and Castle's heart sing to hear the sound of it.

Castle turned around and froze for a second at the sight of Tom standing in the middle of the room, staring at the television, which was turned off.

Tom turned around, recognizing Castle's presence, which didn't always happen whenever they were in the same room. "I want to watch my daughter's wedding video, but all we have is a TV; no VCR player."

Castle shrugged his shoulders. "Hmm, no DVD player either."

Tom squinted at him. "What month is it today?"

Castle furrowed his brow. "It's November - same as yesterday", he tried to cover over Tom's slip-up with he chuckle, but Tom just bowed his head.

"It's my anniversary tomorrow... Liz and I will have been married for 29 years."

Castle patted him on the back. "Hey, congratulations - will we be celebrating?" He grinned.

Tom's eyes welled up. "I don't deserve her you know."

Castle hesitated, before placing a hand on Tom's shoulder and guiding him to one of the couches. "Why don't we sit down?"

Castle took the couch across from Tom and tried to think of how to start this conversation. Thankfully, Tom did that for him. "I haven't always been completely truthful with Liz. There are some things I know I really should have just come out and said to her a long time ago, but..." He paused in his speech, staring down at his knees.

"I know... it's hard", Castle said, thinking of all the things he so desperately tried to pluck up the courage to tell Beckett for so many years.

Tom nodded silently.

Castle felt a pang in his heart for the old man. "You know Liz loves you right? She'd do anything for you, anyone could see that. So, whatever it is you have to say to her, I think she'll understand. And believe me, the longer you wait, the harder it gets to tell the truth."

There was a pause, during which Castle thought Tom might be crying. He kept his head bent down.

"You're smarter than you look, kid", Tom muttered Castle's way.

Castle smiled, and Tom raised his head finally and shook his hand. "Thanks."

...

**A/N: So over the next few chapters we will be delving into the case a little bit more and also seeing some more of Tom and Liz. **

**Until next time... :-)**


	11. Chapter 11 Who would you?

**Hi everyone, sorry I didn't update yesterday, but hey, we all had Killshot - zomg! (Drops dead) Stana Katic for ALL the awards, right?**

**Thank you for my french speaking friends who helped me with the translation in the previous chapter. Hope you all have fun reading Chapter 11!**

Beckett had just finished telling Liz about the amazing night that her and Castle had spent together (sparing a few of the details for fear of giving the middle-aged woman a heart attack.)

"Sounds incredible, you little tiger! Almost like you were exploring bodies you hadn't seen before." Liz laughed, fanning herself.

Beckett blushed. "Yeah, well you've got to treat every time like it's your first time right?"

Liz smiled. "And your last."

Beckett nodded. "Very true."

Liz sighed "Tom and I haven't been intimate in over a year. Not even a kiss goodbye when he goes away for work, which is sometimes for several days at a time. I keep telling him trucking is no profession for a man of his age, but of course that only makes him angry with me, which means we always part on a sour note. He just doesn't realize how much I love him. I don't want him to get hurt."

"Sometimes holding someone back can be the thing that hurts them the most though", Beckett said gently.

Liz chuckled, Beckett wasn't sure why.

Liz placed a hand on top of hers and looked at her with fondness. "You remind me so much of my daughter."

Beckett swallowed a lump in her throat, smiling shakily.

"Really?" She asked endearingly.

"Yes. So wise - irritatingly so", Liz rubbed Beckett's hand.

Beckett laughed, sandwiching Liz's hand between her two.

"Well, I'm touched. If she's followed in the example led by her Mom, she must be pretty great huh?" Beckett said.

"Oh, you're such a sweetheart. Thank you." Liz pulled Beckett in for a hug.

Outside, the wedding march played faintly, as they broke apart.

"Alright, after eleven days of hearing that damn tune, I am about ready to kill whoever it was that chose to have it as the announcement for these already tedious group sessions."

Beckett grimaced. "Actually I think it was Mrs. O'Bryant that made all of those decisions."

Liz covered her mouth. "Oh my goodness. Well now I feel awful."

At that moment there was a knock on the bedroom door.

"Come in if you're sexy", Liz called, poking her tongue out at Beckett.

Castle opened the door. "Do I qualify?" He asked with a grin.

Liz stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, what do you think Maria?"

"Meh, he might just scrape by", Beckett shrugged.

Castle stepped into the room, and opened his mouth at Beckett's comment. "You little devil!"

Tom stepped into the room. "Come on you three, Murray will have our heads on a platter if we don't get going."

"Yeah, he's right. Come on sweet cheeks", Castle said, fishing to get a rise out of Beckett, which he achieved easily.

She looked at him wide-eyed and walked right up to him, pinching his backside. "Coming... Kitten."

Tom snorted with laughter. "Kitten? I thought your nickname was Castle?"

Castle went red in the face, Beckett winked at him, teasingly, as she shuffled past him on her way out the door.

"Oh, Maria", Liz stopped her.

"Yeah?" Beckett spun around.

Liz came close to her. "I hope you know that I was joking before. I'd never actually... kill someone, you know", she said seriously.

Beckett shrugged it off, confused at why Liz would be telling her this. "Of course I know that, Liz."

Castle furrowed his brow in a silent question to Beckett. She waved her hand dismissively and discretely, telling him it was nothing to worry about.

Tom spoke, breaking their attention. "She's telling the truth. This woman's never committed a single crime in all her days... if you don't count stealing this sad sap's heart."

Liz looked at him in shock. Tom took a tentative step forward and kissed her on the cheek.

Liz burst into tears, flinging her arms around her husband. "Come on, you old coot, we've finally got something worthy of sharing with Murray!"

They walked out of their bedroom, leaving Beckett to look at Castle with amazement.

"What did you two talk about out there? Liz was just telling me no more than a minute ago that he hasn't done anything like that in months."

Castle shrugged. "I just told him whatever demons he was fighting inside himself, it would be a lot easier to knock them out with the strength of another fist."

Beckett smiled, taking his head in her hands. "Mr. Bexhill, you are amazing."

She leaned forward and kissed him softly.

Castle beamed. "Maria's married to a miracle worker."

"Try saying that ten times fast", Beckett said, pulling him out the door.

He laughed. "I really _have_ rubbed off on you."

Beckett bit her lip and blushed.

...

Castle and Beckett walked to the group session with their arms around each other.

They'd decided that Tony and Maria had surely been at the retreat long enough that they had moved past any differences they might have had, and were now acting like a besotted, happily married couple again.

Or maybe that was just Rick and Kate.

They laughed at each others' jokes and stared up at one another adoringly, hanging on every one of each others' words.

"Hey by the way, Liz and Tom, it's their anniversary tomorrow night", Castle suddenly burst out in the middle of Beckett telling him something about about a time when Esposito had hair.

"Oh, really? Huh, Liz never mentioned it."

Castle shrugged, "She probably thought Tom wouldn't care or remember."

"So we should do something right?" Beckett prompted.

Castle instantly bounced up and down on the balls of his feet. "I am so happy we are SO on the same page here."

Beckett laughed at his childlike ways.

"OK, so I was thinking you could be in charge of decorating, I'll organize food, alcohol - Marcus Whetstone sings in a band so he could provide the music..."

"Castle! Are you forgetting where we are? We can't just pop down to Pathmark whenever we please! " Beckett laughed at him.

Castle scrunched his nose up. "Oh, right."

"But we should definitely talk to Murray or Jasmine or somebody about setting something up. Even if it's just a cake and a slow dance." Beckett suggested.

Castle looked at her dreamily. "And that is why you are the brains of this operation."

Beckett giggled.

They walked hand in hand to the group circle and sat down beside one another.

"Tony, Maria, how are you?" Murray sat next to Beckett.

"We are... wonderful." Beckett smiled, raising her hand, which was locked with Castle's.

Murray nodded, smiling. "I hear you had some fun last night out in the forest."

Castle and Beckett froze.

"Justin tells me you folks got together to sing some campfire songs and toast a few marshmallows." He said.

Castle and Beckett looked at each other.

Beckett turned to Murray and spoke in a low voice. "Um...We must have missed the memo."

Murray's eyes went wide and he grinned, clicking tongue on the inside of his cheek.

"I see...", He laughed "Good for you two." He winked at them and shuffled over to his own seat, two seats down.

Beckett let out a breath of air she didn't know she'd been holding.

"We missed out on marshmallows!" Castle wined.

Beckett turned to him with narrowed eyes. "Didn't you enjoy our own little late night snack?"

Castle spluttered. "Well, I-I... mhm, yeah, yes."

Beckett smirked at him, turning back around when Murray announced they were starting.

"Afternoon folks", he said greeted them. "How are we all today?"

Beckett and Castle both shouted out "Great!" Laughing as they looked at each other - they had by far been the most enthusiastic members in the circle.

"So tonight we have our big talent show, which I'm hoping you'll all have something figured out for", he grinned widely.

There was a bit of nervous chatter following that.

"Now speaking of talent, I thought we might play a little game of "Who would you?"

"Sounds ominous", Mary-Beth Andrews said into Beckett's ear. Beckett jumped, not realizing she had taken Murray's seat when he had vacated it.

"I'm sure the rules are pretty obvious, each one of you tells us one celebrity that you have a crush on, and with complete good faith, and without being jealous, your partner must accept that celebrity as somebody who, if given the chance; you would be allowed go on a date with. So let's go around the circle shall we, mine would be; and my wife has allowed this, so I'm off the hook - Deborah Kerr ."

The group chuckled.

"Mr. Andrews?" Murray prompted Steve Andrews.

"Ah, um... I don't know... Sarah Jessica Parker." Steve muttered.

"OK", Murray laughed. "Now Mrs. Andrews, you must say "I accept", and then you can tell us your one."

Mary-Beth looked at her husband strangely, but just shook her head saying "I accept."

She looked at the group with a smile on her face then. "And mine would have to be... Ricky Martin."

Castle snorted with laughter.

Murray appeared a little shell shocked. "O-K, ah... Mr. Andrews?"

Steve burst out laughing. "Yeah, I accept... if you can get him to leave his _boyfriend_ for you - you can have him."

Mary-Beth's dreamy smile faded and she shot daggers at her husband.

Murray cleared his throat. "Moving on - Mr. Bexhill?"

Castle calmed himself internally. "OK, so mine is actually a Comic-book character."

Beckett rolled her eyes; of course it was.

"OK, which one?" Murray asked.

"Electra", Castle beamed, turning to wink at Beckett. She turned red and was unable to speak for a moment.

"Mrs. Bexhill?"

Beckett shook herself and said. "Uh, I accept", she got lost in a heated dueling of eyes with Castle.

"And your choice?" Murray prompted.

Her eyes remaining locked with Castle's (because the intensity of his gaze would not break), she gave her answer.

"Well, mine is a writer - a mystery novelist. You may not have heard of him."

Castle furrowed his brow at her... surely she wouldn't risk their undercover op by saying...

"Alexander Rodgers", she smirked up at him.

He breathed a sigh of relief and pursed his lips to stop the laughter of glee that threatened to fall from his lips.

"I accept", he said throatily to her.

The rest of the group session continued in this manner, many "Johnny Depps" and "Jessica Albas" making appearances within the list.

After it was over, Castle and Beckett turned to each other, still holding hands.

"Electra huh?" Beckett smirked, a glint in her eye.

"You know, I think I got a little taste of those "bad-ass ninja skills" last night", Castle whispered to her.

Beckett bit her lip, damn, she was starting to get a ulcer from the amount of times he'd made her do that recently.

She cleared her throat. "So, this talent show tonight. You doing anything?"

Castle stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Hm, well, I haven't done my Christopher Walken in a while... you could break out some of your old magic tricks", he gasped. "You never did tell me what that one was with the ice cubes..." He looked her up and down suggestively.

Beckett shook her head at him. "I was thinking more along the lines of singing."

"Oh, a singing detective... instant classic", Castle clapped his hands together.

Beckett put her finger to her lips, reminding him not to spill on their identities.

"What about you, I heard somewhere that you used to sing in a band in high school." Beckett smiled.

"Been perusing the fan site biography section again have we?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow.

She grinned, and turned away shyly. "I just always had a fantasy, ever since I was thirteen years old and I went to my first rock concert; of a handsome young rock star, just jumping off stage and coming up to sing to me in the crowd - instantly making every other girl in the room jealous."

Castle beamed at her. "Well, I don't know about rock star but if I can help you to live out one of your fantasies..."

She turned her head to him and bit her lip again.

Castle continued. "Then hand me a mic and call me Sting."

...

That night, all of those attending the retreat gathered in the hall for the talent show.

There were a few dancing couples, and a comedian or two (that Castle seemed to have issues with), and of course some obligatory off-key singing.

When Beckett got up to sing however, her voice had Castle transfixed.

When it came to Katherine Beckett, Castle had always assumed she could sing because, well, hell... what couldn't she do? But he'd never imagined she could sing this well, as she audibly caressed her crowd with a husky rendition of "Fever", by Peggy Lee.

When she sat down next to Castle at their table, she brought with her a glass full of ice.

"Ice cubes?" He questioned her hopefully.

She smirked. "Yeah they're for you, I thought you might need them." She deliberately eyed his groin area.

He laughed and smacked her on the ass. "Cheeky."

She wagged her eyebrows at him, rubbing his chest seductively with her hand.

He cleared his throat quickly. "Ah, hunny why don't you go and get us some drinks from the bar?" He suggested loudly to her, over the noise of the next act.

She grinned. "You got it... darling." She stood up, giving him one last sexy look before walking to the bar.

Beckett ordered Castle and herself two white russians, and stood waiting for them at the bar.

Liz came up behind her, flinging an arm around her. "Maria, you are a woman of hidden talents, that was amazing!"

Beckett smiled at the her warmly. "Thank you Liz. Where's Tom?"

"Oh bathroom probably, but don't you worry, I'm not letting him get away from me tonight. He promised me a dance", she stomped her foot.

Beckett put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm so glad you two are finally sorting things out."

Liz shrugged. "Well, I think we should be thanking Tony for some of it. From what it sounds like, he and Tom had a big discussion about the way Tom was acting, and Tony convinced him he needed to try and change. Don't ask me how he managed it; I'll tell you though it's no wonder he's interested in aliens, I'm not sure he's from this world himself."

Beckett laughed.

Liz spoke to her genuinely. "Seriously though. You hold on to that one. He's a keeper."

Beckett nodded, fully intending to do just that.

A new tune began playing over the PA system, it was familiar to Beckett but she couldn't quite place it... until an even more familiar voice began to sing.

_Make of our hands, one hand,_

_Make of our hearts, one heart._

_Make of our vows, one last vow;_

_Only death will part us now._

Castle jumped off the stage, all eyes followed him as he walked straight for Beckett at the bar. He approached her and extended his hand for her to take.

_Make of our lives, one life. _

_Day after day, one life._

_Now it begins, Now we start;_

_One Hand, One Heart._

_Even death won't part us now._

Walking into her, while finishing the last note, he brought their joined hands to his heart.

The song finished and everybody clapped. All Beckett heard was Castle.

"I know it's not technically "rock-starish", but I thought it was appropriate." He shrugged.

A lone tear fell down Beckett's face. She said nothing, she simply leaned forward and kissed him with tender lips.

The room rumbled with applause. And still, all she heard was him.


	12. Chapter 12 Muder First

**Hey folks, this is a long one that actually got a bit out of hand, as I meant to add another scene, but got too carried away with just these three! So you'll just have to wait until the next update... which will hopefully (fingers crossed) be tomorrow!**

**Enjoy :-)**

Castle and Beckett woke up that Friday morning in each others' arms.

Beckett opened her eyes and blinked up at Castle, who was smiling above her.

"Good morning Mrs. Bexhill."

Her hand instantly went up to caress his stubbled chin.

"Morning", she stretched. "You been up yet?"

Castle shook his head. "No, I was waiting for you. Where is it?"

"Side drawer", Beckett said motioning with her head toward her side table.

She went to roll over to get it but Castle grabbed her arm, pulling her back into him. "Nooo... that can wait. I bet they're not even up yet! We have a little time..." He ran his hand up and down her forearm, giving her goosebumps.

There was a clanging of pots from the kitchen and a laughter-filled squeal.

Beckett raised her eyebrow at him.

He pouted. "Could be a ghost?" He suggested.

She rolled her eyes at him and rolled over, much to his protest.

She reached into the drawer and fished out a beautiful card that she had made yesterday, after breaking into the supply shed to "borrow" some art supplies.

When she had shown Castle the card, with a beautifully sketched picture of Tom and Liz on the front, and the words "Happy Anniversary Mr. and Mrs. Delancey" written above, he had been utterly amazed.

"You are a woman of many, many talents", he had told her lowly and breathily, before they commenced making out behind the supply shed.

When Beckett turned back to Castle and handed him the card, he said. "Oh no, you should give it to them. You made it."

She raised one eyebrow and gave him an adoring smile. "Castle, Liz credits you with them being happy again. They'd never have been able to sort out their differences if you hadn't talked to Tom they way you did; whatever you said must've really affected him."

Castle shrugged. "I just told him that Liz and I had a spark and he better act before I swooped in on his prey."

Beckett opened her mouth, before Castle smirked. "Castle!" She yelled, hitting him.

His eyes went wide. "Shh", he said, imitating her.

She pursed her lips. "It's your nickname, remember?"

"Oh yeah, why is that again?" He asked, eyeing her up and down.

She leaned into him, pressing herself closer and closer, her mouth going to his ear. "It's because you have a really, really big...ego."

She nipped his ear with her teeth, and pulled back.

For a second he just looked at her. But then he began to tickle her to death.

"Help! Civil engineer attacking an innocent little fashion designer!" Beckett screamed.

Castle laughed and stopped tickling her. "You want me to attack you in a different way?" He looked at her seductively.

She grinned slowly. "Mr. Bexhill are you trying to seduce me?"

"You bet I am, baby", he growled, beginning by assaulting her neck.

...

After showering together (having to wash twice, because... well they _were_ naked in the shower together!) they walked out into the dining room to find Tom and Liz, canoodling on the couch.

"Good morning you two", Beckett greeted them.

"Oh, good morning dears", Liz smiled up at them.

Beckett nudged Castle, prompting him.

He stepped forward and handed the card Beckett had made, to Liz, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek. "Happy anniversary." He shook Tom's hand.

Liz was speechless. "Oh... Tom, look at this." She handed the card to Tom, who squinted at it.

"Oh my dears, thank you", she stood up quickly and hugged Castle mightily and then walked over to Beckett and squeezed the life out of her.

"What is it? Is that the king and queen of England?" Tom asked, confused.

Liz threw her head back, laughing. "It's US you old coot!" She patted him on the head.

"Yeah, just a little gift for you both. I know it's not much, but it's the least we could do." Beckett said.

Liz was taken aback. "The least you could do? Maria, what have we done to deserve anything like this?"

Beckett smiled and took Liz's hand in hers. "Just being here. Being someone to talk to, it's helped a lot, really it has, I mean, these past few days... you've been like a mother to me."

Beckett began to well up.

Liz's face melted. "Oh sweetheart, your mom will be fine. She'll pull through... you'll see."

Beckett cried openly.

Liz held her tightly. "I don't know your mother from a bar of soap, but I am sure she is very proud of you."

Beckett smiled weakly through her tears.

From aside, Castle reached out to touch her shoulder. Her hand instantly reached behind her to grab his fingers.

She pulled away from Liz and went straight into Castle's arms. "Thank you, Liz", she murmured into Castle's chest.

Liz smiled warmly at them. Castle nodded his thanks, Liz then turned to Tom. "Come on Thomas Ian. Murray promised us a special anniversary breakfast over in the hall."

"Oh, I'm getting old", Tom groaned as he raised from the couch and followed his wife outside.

Beckett stayed locked in Castle's arms. She shook slightly as he whispered softly to her, offering words of comfort, and placing soft kisses in her hair.

After a few minutes, she pulled away. "OK?" He asked her, concerned.

She nodded weakly. "Yeah... I never thought about the consequences of pretending to have a mom. I just wanted so badly to feel like I had someone there that would protect me and comfort me when I was sad and sit with me..." Her voice cracked. "Sit with me and talk about my day, about her day, complain to me about vagrant teens and the increasing lack of service station attendants."

Castle chuckled. Beckett bowed her head. "Plan my wedding and fuss over everything, help me pick out my dress and then wear a ridiculous hat."

"Disapprove over your choice of a husband?" Castle suggested.

Beckett shook her head slowly. "She never would have disapproved of you, Rick." She looked straight into his eyes.

They burned her, and she looked away quickly, placing her hand over her mouth. "Even if she did, you would have won her over eventually anyway." She smiled into her hand.

"Well, I won her daughter over, right?" Her eyes flicked over him.

"Yes." Was all she said, but she said it so seriously that he felt his heart burst.

He cleared his throat. "I gotta pee."

She laughed. "Charming."

"You wanna come stand on the other side of the door and _talk_ to me?"

Beckett bit her lip. Just then her phone rang.

She picked it up and sighed. "Gates... maybe later?"

Castle grimaced. "Yeah I think you just killed the mood."

He went to the bathroom. She smiled slyly, before answering the phone.

"Beckett... Hello Sir."

"Detective, how much headway have you made?" Gates said abruptly on the other end.

She smiled thinking "A LOT", but she knew Gates wasn't referring to her and Castle's relationship, but more to the case.

"Uh. still treading lightly sir. O'Bryant did say he didn't want us stepping on anybody's toes."

Gates sighed. "Yes, Gareth has always been very conservative; politically and personally. Never forced his campaign strategies on people, he let people come to him, and they did..."

Beckett furrowed her brow and wanted to say something to Gates.

"I think it was his not pushing that got him elected. People found him... refreshing."

"He certainly sounds well accomplished, but sir..."

"Yes, I'm sorry Detective, I got side tracked... the murder, what do we know?"

Beckett inhaled, realizing the previous conversation had ended before she could speak on the subject.

"Well, we know the killer was most likely wearing a pair of rather expensive gloves - women's gloves."

"So our suspect is a wealthy woman." Gates stated.

"Well sir, this place was set up specifically for people who have little finance, I don't think there's anyone here who could afford a pair of Gucci gloves."

"Perhaps they were a gift?" Gates suggested.

"It's possible... maybe I should ask people here about their friends, family, see if any of them might be well connected." Beckett said.

"You mean you haven't done that already?" Gates' anger seeped through the phone.

"We- I've been trying to maintain a profile here. It was your order that I follow the instructions of O'Bryant and keep it that way." Beckett was mad.

"Well if you haven't spent the last five days getting to know people, what in the world have you been doing?"

_Castle, naturally. _

She didn't say that of course, she just stammered into the phone.

"Two days, Beckett, you have two days. I suggest you start being a little more thorough... and I mean now."

Beckett's jaw clenched. "Yes sir."

Gates hung up and Beckett stood with the phone to her ear, insulted by the obtrusive high pitch of the dial tone.

"So, Mrs. Bexhill, what did "Captain Hates the world" have to say?" Castle asked casually, stepping out of the bathroom.

Beckett closed her eyes for the briefest of moments, praying he wouldn't hate her for what she had to say to him. She turned to him with a look that tried to convey authority and apology all at once.

"Castle", she said seriously.

"Uh oh", Castle said, looking amused.

She shifted her gaze for a brief moment, gathering the words. "It's Friday. Which means we have two days left to catch a killer. This impossible task that Gates has set us, coupled with the frankly; ludicrous demands of O'Bryant. And then all this... stuff between us, this wonderful new adventure we're beginning together, it's scary and it's risky, and I can't wait for us to start, but, until we solve this case..."

She stopped and sighed.

Castle nodded his head, knowing. "I need to be Richard Castle and you need to be Detective Beckett."

Beckett rubbed his arm with her hand. "Right, but just for now, OK? When this case is done, and we're back to reality... we can be Mr. and Mrs. whoever the hell you want." She smiled timidly at him.

"Yeah... murder first. Always murder first", Castle huffed, going to the kitchen to make coffee.

Beckett stood, feeling dejected and cold without him beside her. Had he not just heard anything she said about their wonderful new life as a couple, suggestions that they be would be together - always?

She just needed the next couple of days to focus on the murder and then they would have forever... she knew they would.

For the first time in her career, Beckett cursed the victim for putting them into this screwed up situation.

...

That night the moon set a soft glow over the gardens of the Lasting Vows Marriage Retreat.

The staff had arranged for the opening of the dance to be dedicated solely to Liz and Tom.

Beckett stayed with them in the room, and kept them busy, making up fantastical stories about her life and distracting them so that they didn't realize every other person in the retreat had gone to the hall already to celebrate their anniversary. She'd told the organizers, she would bring them over at eight o'clock and not before that.

It was relaxed in the bedroom with Liz, trying on necklaces and making girl talk. A stark contrast to the rest of the day. She had been questioning people all day, trying to strike up conversations about their lives, and their time at the retreat, figuring out if any of them had motive or opportunity.

Just before eight, Beckett went to her and Castle's bedroom to re-touch her makeup.

She tossed her gun and badge on their bed, while she fixed up her straps underneath her form-fitting, sky blue dress, where she kept them while undercover, or at formal events where she was required to wear a dress.

Just as she strapped the velcro, preparing to slip the gun and badge in there, Liz's voice sounded behind her.

"Maria, what do think of..." She paused, frozen at the door, eyes darting from Beckett's face, to the gun lying on the bed.

Beckett gaped and went pale. "Liz, I..."

Liz put her hand up, stopping her. Surprisingly, she smiled widely. "Detective Katherine Beckett, it's nice to meet you."

Beckett was startled. "Y-You know? How long?"

Liz chuckled. "Since you arrived."

Beckett's eyes went wide.

"I'm a librarian, I stare at an A2 size, "Naked Heat" poster every single day, it's one of our most popular. I see Richard Castle's face every day."

Beckett shook her head. "Does Tom know?"

Liz shook her head. "I haven't told him, nor anyone else. I knew you'd be here for a reason... Mrs. O'Bryant, I figured?"

Beckett nodded, still dazed. "I understand you knowing who Castle is, but... me?"

Liz smiled again. "Well, you know the dedication in Heat Wave? I wondered who KB was, so I googled "KB Richard Castle Heat Wave" and it came up with all these articles about how you and Richard Castle had solved all these crimes together. Is that really true?"

Beckett couldn't help but let a small smile slip onto her face. "Well... he's helped."

She pursed her lips, knowing she might as well be totally honest right now. "Actually, he's aided me in a lot of cases where I wouldn't have been able to get through without him."

She wasn't just talking about work now.

Liz sighed deeply, as she came into the room and sat down on the bed, beside Beckett's gun and badge.

"I gotta say, you two play a couple _very_ well." She smiled suggestively at Beckett.

Beckett blushed and leaned close to Liz to whisper. "Think you can keep another secret?"

Liz's eyes lit up. "Of course", she said, moving closer to hear.

"Not _all_ of it was play", she said shyly.

Liz "ooohed" and pinched Beckett on the arm. "I knew those sex scenes couldn't have just come from one man's imagination."

Beckett's head shot up. "N-no, no this has only happened since we've been here", she clarified.

"Oh, really?" Liz said, interested. "Well, being told you were going to be sharing a room, and all of that, must've been... what do the kids say these days? _Awkwaaard._"

Beckett snorted with laughter. "Yeah, you can say that again."

Liz shook her head. "Ah, no I think once is enough."

Beckett laughed, and then it faded to a sad smile. "Liz, I'm so sorry we deceived you. You and Tom are such good people and I wished I could have told you the truth so many times over the past five days, but..."

"Hey, hey, hey, no Detective Beckett, or Kate, or Maria, or whatever your name is." Liz chuckled.

Beckett smiled.

Liz continued. "You have a job to do. A very important job. And I promise I won't be doing anything to disrupt that OK?"

Beckett nodded, gratefully. "Thank you Liz."

They shared a moment of silence until Liz spoke up.

"So, how much of your life is true and how much is made up?"

Beckett puffed a breath of air. "Ah, well, obviously I'm not a fashion designer. And Castle is not a civil engineer."

Liz laughed. "Thank heavens for that, I would have felt terribly unsafe if I knew there was a civil engineer walking about with his incompetency."

Beckett laughed. "Yeah, but the alien thing might be true. And the conspiracy theory stuff. He's been known to dabble in the _unknown_. If you know what I mean."

"Eh, what writer hasn't?"

"That's probably true", Beckett smiled, thoughtfully.

"And so, your parents?"

Beckett cringed. "Ah, well Castle's mother is alive and well... she lives with him actually."

"Oh, I see." Liz said, amused.

"My dad lives in New York, not far from me, but we're lucky if we see each other once a month."

Liz nodded. "And your mom? I take it she doesn't live in Serbia", she chuckled.

Beckett swallowed hard and shook her head, trying to keep the smile glued to her face. "My mother died when I was fifteen... actually, she was murdered."

Liz's smile died on her face, and she went pale. "Oh my goodness, I am so sorry."

Beckett shook her head. "You know what, it was a long time ago, and I'm very slowly trying to let go of it, or at least distance myself enough to be able to live a little." She paused, thinking. "And, you know, Castle is helping me do that. Sometimes I'm not sure even he knows how much."

Liz took Beckett's hand in hers. "You really care for him, don't you?"

Beckett sniffed back tears and nodded.

Liz nodded in turn. "I can tell that he feels the same."

Beckett squeezed her hand gently.

"And you've really only been in a relationship while you've been here?" Liz asked.

Beckett sighed. "We've always had a relationship, you know, but..."

"But you only added the sex, since coming here?" Liz finished for her.

Beckett laughed, turning red. "Yeah, pretty much."

Liz laughed too.

"But now I think it's really time, to..." Beckett broke off, her cowardice getting the better of her.

"Time to what?" Liz pushed gently.

Beckett looked up at her with scared eyes. "T-time to t-tell him, how much I really l-"

"-Come on ladies, it's after eight, we better shake a leg!" Tom said impatiently, standing in the doorway.

Liz yelled. "Tom... my darling, I love you. But you have to have the worst timing ever!"

Beckett tried to stop herself laughing, partly out of relief, then she looked at her watch. "No he's right, we'd better go."

Liz sighed, giving in, but gave Beckett a stern look. "This isn't over missy, you'd better tell him quick smart, or I will, and only because I know better than to hit a pol-"

Beckett glanced at Tom, reminding her he was standing right there.

"Polite young thing such as yourself", Liz covered herself weakly.

Beckett gave her a discreet smile. And laughed when they both winked at each other.

"What isn't over?" Tom asked his wife meekly as they walked outside.

Liz smiled. "Oh Thomas, you really must learn to catch up", she teased him, leaving him more than a little confused.

...

So what do you all think? Do you think Beckett will "tell him" in the next chapter? Will they find their man (or woman?) ;-)


	13. Chapter 13 The Dance

**So again, you guys are just so incredible, you know that right? I am just really thrilled that you are all building theory about the Caroline O'Bryant murder case, it makes me feel all tingly inside that you have such respect for my story, so thank you all so much! **

**This chapter isn't quite as long as previous ones. Again I was going to add another part to this, but the bit I wanted to add will take up quite a bit of story, so I decided to devote a whole chapter of its own to it. **

** And besides - I gotta string you along juuust a little bit more with the Caskett stuff... ;-)**

**Hehe, enjoy!**

Beckett, Liz and Tom walked the short distance across the grounds of the retreat, to the hall where the dance was being held.

The night was unseasonably warm for this time of year, and Tom seemed to have a big problem with that, spouting many theories about political views over climate change.

"You know, with all these wild theories of yours, you could give Tony a run for his money, Tom", Beckett laughed.

Tom stopped walking for a moment. "Tom, darling she was kidding", Liz said, putting her hand on his arm. He looked slightly dazed as he looked from Beckett to Liz, but after barely a second, he cracked a smile and said. "Yes, I know."

Liz took his hand in hers and laughed, as they walked up the stone steps to the hall.

Beckett watched them, wondering for a moment if her and Castle would ever be that way again, hoping desperately that somehow they could.

Liz turned to Beckett. "Wonder where everybody is? Are you sure we're not early? They did say eight o'clock, didn't they?"

Beckett jumped ahead of her to open the door, smiling.

"Are you playing a trick on us, girl?" Tom asked irritably.

"Me, playing tricks? Look at my face, does this look like the face of someone who would play tricks on such lovely people as yourselves?" Beckett gave them a puppy dog look.

Liz squinted at the hall, the lights were off inside. "It's awfully dark and quiet in there. Are you sure the dance was tonight?"

"Oh, I'm definitely sure Liz", Beckett began to grin.

"This is ridiculous, nobody's here, let's just leave, I'm not really feeling up to it anyway."

Keeping her hand on the door, Beckett put her other arm and a foot out to block him from leaving. "No, no Tom, you can't go back to your room, you have to come in." She said, trying desperately not to give anything away.

"Oh is that so? Give me one reason why I shouldn't just go back to the room, right now." Tom said, becoming angry.

Beckett reached for the handle on the door. "Oh, I'll give you twenty-nine reasons."

She turned the handle and a wave of light and noise hit them instantly.

"HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!"

The whole retreat was there, Castle leading the pack.

"Oh!" Liz squealed, her hand going straight to her mouth in surprise.

Tom stood open mouthed, staring wide eyed at all the people, applauding them.

Liz turned to Beckett and practically smothered her. "You little sneak!" She whispered into her ear.

Beckett laughed and kissed Liz on the cheek. "You're welcome."

"Speech!" Castle hollered from the front of the crowd.

Liz looked a little nervous. "Oh well, what can I say? I never would have expected this, and I definitely didn't expect to be making a speech... thank you Tony", she hissed the last bit out of the corner of her mouth. Castle bowed his head toward her, signifying she was welcome.

"Ah, well twenty-nine years certainly is a long time. Tom and I met right out of college and we... fell in love." She looked at Tom who was shaking slightly.

"We were married three months later and had Megan, our first born. Then came Alan, Jack, Hannah and Corbin, all in quick succession."

"In other words they rooted like rabbits!" a drunken Steve Andrews yelled from somewhere in the back, earning him a smack from his wife.

Liz looked embarrassed but continued graciously. "Well, we were very happy newlyweds, let's put it that way." A small chuckle from the crowd.

Liz exhaled, staring at Tom with devotion. "Tom, you are my life. You're the person I share my home with, my TV remote, my bed... my whole world."

Beckett, who was watching Tom tear up, clasped together her hands and held them to her heart, willing herself not to cry.

"It hasn't always been an easy life, but we've lived it... we sure have lived it. Every soccer game, every late night trip to Albany for hamburgers, every pretend African Safari."

Tom laughed, obviously recalling fond memories. Beckett suddenly found herself wishing she'd spent more time getting to know this couple. They had lived such a different life from her; a life filled with laughter and love and family; and definitely no murder.

"My darling, I love you, and if we have another 29, just like we've just had... I could do more than settle for that."

Tom inhaled shakily and blew her a kiss.

The crowd cheered, and Beckett pushed Tom to the spot where Liz had just been standing.

"Well... how to follow that? I don't have a chance." The crowd laughed again.

"Elizabeth, you are my forever girl", Tom started sincerely. Liz's lip shook as she tried to hold back tears.

"To say we've had an easy life would be pushing it. We've had our high points... and our lows."

Liz nodded appreciatively.

"But really all I want to say is that you mean the world to me. You, and the kids... And I wouldn't trade our time together for anything."

Beckett tore her eyes from Tom for a moment and glimpsed Castle staring straight at her.

They locked eyes for a moment before she turned her attention back to Tom.

"And next year will be the big three-o, so party at ours, you're all welcome to come!", Tom finished boisterously. The audience laughed again and applauded him.

Tom and Liz embraced. She cupped his face with her hands and said. "I'm so proud of you." They shared a passionate kiss as they began to sway to the music. Members of the crowd wolf-whistled and giggled.

"Alright you two; save it for the re-affirming night", Murray laughed.

The crowd of people broke apart to get drinks and begin to dance.

Beckett crossed the room and grabbed Castle by his sleeve, excusing him quickly from his conversation he was having with Marcus Whetstone.

"Dance with me", she demanded.

He furrowed his brow, looking somewhat confused and affronted, but complied by wrapping his arms around her waist, while she snaked hers around his neck.

They moved rhythmically in the slow dance.

She leaned into him, intoxicating him with her perfume. Her lips found his ear.

"Liz knows about us", she said, no where near seductively, and hardly what Castle was expecting her to say in that particular moment.

He pulled back from her to let her see the question written on his face. "Castle and Beckett, us?"

"Yes", she confirmed.

"Wh-how?" Castle stammered, he looked over at Liz, who was now laughing with a small group of women.

"Castle!" Beckett hissed. "Don't just look at her", she rolled her eyes, but it was of course too late.

Castle stopped moving his feet, making Beckett trip. "Castle, what are you doing?" She asked him, confused.

She studied his face as he swallowed, he then looked at her with a deeply worried expression. The look of confused frustration fell from her face to be replaced with one of panic. "Castle?"

Castle finally looked at her with a look mixed with fear, determination and sadness.

"Beckett, I..."

"Oh Castle, please forget what I said this morning you can call me Ka-"

"Beckett." He cut her off, telling her what he needed to say pertained to the case.

She then felt her heart begin to race whenever they were about to chase a fresh lead, but the distraught look on Castle's face was making her heart race for different reasons.

"Rick, what is it?" She asked softly.

"I have to show you something... you're not going to like it."

"What?" She asked urgently.

"Look at Liz's outfit, what do you see?"

Beckett narrowed her eyes at him, before she turned to Liz. "A white fur wrap covering a black dress, maybe Bolenciaga, with matching black gloves and clutch, and I don't know, pointed... shoes; come on Castle, we've clarified that I'm not a fashion desi-" Beckett paused.

Castle swallowed, looking down at her sadly.

"Gloves", she croaked.

Castle nodded. She took a step back from him. She looked betrayed, he wasn't sure if it was because of him or because of Liz.

"No", she said hoarsely, tears pooled in her green eyes. "No, not Liz." She shook her head, refusing to believe it.

Castle stepped forward and grabbed her by her elbows, staring deep into her eyes. "Kate... how many times have you reminded me... in this job, we have to look at things as they are presented to us... we have to be objective."

She choked back tears, and put her hand to her head. This was all a mistake; it had to be.

But Castle was right. She'd always made sure to apply that rule strictly in her job. And she was a cop first and a woman second, she gruelingly reminded herself.

Castle squeezed her arms reassuringly.

Picking her heart off the floor, Beckett walked over to where Liz was standing.

As soon as she looked into Liz's eyes, her words became a torrent of distrust.

"Maria, my dear, how can I thank you and Tony enough-"

"Liz!" Beckett stopped her abruptly.

Liz looked stunned. Beckett lowered her tone, as things began clicking into place in her mind.

"How did you know Mrs. O'Bryant had been murdered. We spoke to Steve Andrews and he said you all were never told she was murdered so how did you know?"

Liz backed up, looking worried. "Detective Beckett, I..."

"Answer me Liz!" Beckett raised her voice.

Liz trembled slightly, looking terrified now. "I-I just assumed that's why you two were here, I-I mean why else would you be, and... I was right wasn't I?"

Beckett took Liz's hand in hers. Liz's face softened as she took this to mean Beckett was going to apologize.

But Beckett turned over Liz's black gloved hand in her own and there, printed in gold - "Gucci".

Beckett inhaled sharply, it was a strong rule of hers not to cry in front of suspects.

"I like your gloves, Liz.", she nodded sadly.

"Oh, thank you dear, I just..."

"HOW LONG HAVE YOU OWNED THESE GLOVES, LIZ?" Beckett yelled, fully distracting everyone's attention away from the party.

Liz began to cry. "I-I was given them the other day. Since I've been here."

"Oh really?" Beckett asked skeptically. "By whom?"

"K-Kate please, you can't think that I-"

"BY WHOM - WHO GAVE YOU THESE GLOVES?"

Liz took a step backward, shaking violently.

"JUST TELL ME!" Beckett couldn't help it, the thought that a woman she had trusted, confided in, and even admired, was a possible killer? She couldn't stop the tears from flowing.

Just at that moment there was a loud crash from about 10 feet away.

Things seemed to play out in slow motion for the next couple of minutes after that.

"TOM!" Liz screamed, running away before Beckett could stop her.

But Beckett didn't even try to stop her, for there lying on the floor of the hall, covered in bright orange tropical punch and glass, lay an unconscious Tom.

Beckett felt her head spinning. "Kate!" Castle screamed, catching her as she felt her knees buckle beneath her.

Life was something of a blur to Beckett as she heard one of the counselors shout "Somebody call an ambulance!"

There commotion of panic and people thinking they could help, but they were shouted at by Murray to "Get out" and 'Let the Paramedics handle it!"

"Beckett!" Castle urged her out of her daze.

She blinked a few times and took a couple of deep breaths, being helped upright again by Castle's strong arms.

"Come on, Kate", he encouraged her.

His confidence in her, that was evident in his voice, was all she needed.

She reached into her dress and pulled out her badge. "OK. NYPD, I NEED YOU ALL TO KEEP CALM."

The flurry ceased at once and the people in the room, including staff, stared at Beckett. All except Liz who was kneeling beside her husband, muttering pleading words to him, begging him to hold on; not to leave her, that she loved him...

For a second, Beckett stumbled as she had a flashback... She soon shook herself out of it however and proceeded to act as an authority in an otherwise anarchic situation.

"Now, the ambulance has been called, yes? So help is on its way." The other members of the retreat were looking at her like she was something foreign in their midst.

"Yes I am a cop, my name is Detective Kate Beckett, and it's my job now to maintain a sense of calm and composure until the medics arrive."

She turned to the young counselor Justin. "Get me some pillows from somewhere, quickly please."

He rushed off to find some pillows.

"You!" She shouted at Steve Andrews, who was standing on his own in a corner, clearly wanting to keep out of this. "Go get something sweet that's not hard to chew or swallow."

Steve Andrews nodded, bug-eyed and began bustling around the room.

"Liz", Beckett spoke to the inconsolable woman. "Does Tom have a history of epilepsy, diabetes?"

Liz shook her head. "No, nothing like that", she said tearfully. "Listen, Kate-"

Beckett shook her head forcefully. "Look, just don't worry about it right now, just focus on Tom."

Liz gave her a look of gratitude, and resumed whispering to her husband.

Fifteen minutes went by, until finally two paramedics burst through the door of the hall.

They lifted Tom onto a stretcher, he still wasn't conscious but he had a pulse. Liz held his hand as they loaded him into the ambulance.

"Beckett!" Castle called out to her, warning her not to let Liz go.

Beckett looked from Castle to Liz, and then to Tom. She knew right then she was truly having to make a choice between helping the dead or the still alive.

Liz looked at her with pleading eyes.

Beckett pursed her lips, and shoved Liz into the ambulance behind Tom. "Go, just go!" She growled.

Liz let out a yelp of relief, jumping in to sit beside her husband and reclaim her place by his side.

The ambulance took off with great haste.

Beckett kicked the ground with her shoe, they had been so close to their objective, but it was an objective she wasn't quite sure she wanted to achieve now.

She turned around and watched as people went to their rooms, all staring back at her angrily. The party; clearly over.

She caught Castle as he shook his head at her, and walked off himself, back to their room that they would be sharing tonight; without their roommates.

**Soo... Theories, anyone? Has Beckett just made a huge mistake by letting a suspect slip out of her grasp? Or do you believe in Liz?**


	14. Chapter 14 Confessions of L

**Hiya folks, thanks so much again for all your comments - they're like oxygen for this little writer! **

**I hope this chapter makes you smile, even just for a while...**

"Yes sir... I know sir", Beckett sighed tiredly into the phone.

She had called Captain Gates and informed her of that night's events as soon as she got back to the confines of her and Castle's room. Needless to say, the Captain was not happy that she let a suspect walk out of their grasp.

Castle lay in bed, with a sour expression on his face, watching Beckett pace the bedroom.

"You do realize Detective that if this woman is guilty, we will most likely never see her again" Gates said sternly.

"Sir, with all due respect, I really don't think Liz would just leave like that; even if she is... our murderer." The words stung Beckett's lips.

"Oh, so you think she's just going to come back and say, "I confess, hand me a jumpsuit and lock me up", because I sure as hell don't see that happening anywhere outside of the Agatha Christie series!"

Beckett put her hand to her head, willing the headache she could feel coming on, to keep at bay for just the night.

"You had better hope, when you finally catch up to her, she's willing to talk, because if she doesn't; you know the law detective - she will be going down for this, regardless of whether she committed the crime or not."

"I know sir, I'll take care of it."

Gates hung up, without bidding the detective goodnight.

Beckett balled her fists tightly and punched the air. 'Ugh!" She cried out.

Castle gave her a quick glance. "You'll give yourself an ulcer."

"Yeah... I've already got one", she said bitterly.

She flopped down on the bed, sighing. "How did I screw this up so badly?"

Castle didn't respond.

"I just became so comfortable with Tom and Liz, I really started to feel like we were kind of becoming..." She broke off. "Kind of becoming like family."

Castle looked down at her, his expression softened. "I guess the way they treated us, making us feel at home like that, it made it easy to forget the job we came here to do. Made it easy to forget that we were supposed to be considering everyone to be a suspect, including them." He sighed. "And I guess I didn't help matters."

Beckett sat up and looked over at him with a furrowed brow. "What do you mean?"

He motioned between himself and Beckett. "Creating this, initiating... us."

Beckett averted her eyes from his, guiltily. "Rick."

"I never should have encouraged this, Kate, not here, it wasn't the right time or place."

Beckett shrugged. "That's it though Castle, you only encouraged this; I was never forced to latch on to it. I was the one who allowed it, allowed something to happen between us."

She paused and looked at him, bringing a hand to touch his face. "Do you regret it?"

Hurt showed in his eyes. "Regret it? The only thing I regret is that we had to do this under a guise, under other peoples' names. I never pictured our first time being just about sex. I pictured it being about something deeper than that. A perfect moment where we knew exactly who each other was and what we wanted. Those woods were hardly the most romantic place, but at least we were far enough away that we could call out each others' names, and that meant so much to me."

Beckett blushed.

He shimmied over to her in the bed, and took her hands in his. "Kate, your name is like a mantra to me. And when you call me Rick, do you have any idea what that does to me?"

She looked deep into his eyes.

He waved his hand in the air. "Forget about the breathing... just hearing my name come out of your mouth... well; let's just say, it's all the encouragement I'll ever need."

She grinned, as he did.

"Rick." She said. Castle closed his eyes, letting out a soft groan, showing her how much he truly did appreciate her using his first name.

She chuckled slightly and then put on a serious face, before continuing. "I just want you to not be disappointed in me."

"Me? Be disappointed in you? In what way could I possibly be disappointed in you?"

"I let the suspect go, and I saw the look in your eyes when I did."

Castle shook his head. "Kate, that wasn't disappointment. Firstly, she isn't "the suspect", she's Liz. And secondly, that look you saw me give, you're reading it all wrong. It wasn't disappointment, it was sadness; sadness for you. For what you're having to go through."

Beckett felt a tear fall down her cheek, why did his words cut through her emotional barrier so?

"I know how much of a connection you feel, to Liz, I've seen it. I feel it too, Kate, they are wonderful people - parents, grandparents, pillars of their community, and great adventurers, people who know how to have a great time and still be grounded enough to support others. If I could live life the way they have, I'd consider my life to be a great success."

Kate shook her head slowly. "Their life has only been that way because they had each other... that's why I couldn't bring myself to believe that Liz could have done this, especially not after tonight. It's so obvious that Tom and Liz need each other, and if Liz goes away for this, I know Tom won't survive."

Castle smiled. "Someone very wise told me once that true love is when you'd be willing to break someone out of jail. And if he can't do that... he'll wait for her."

"What if she makes him wait too long?"

There was a definite shift in direction with this conversation that Castle and Beckett could both sense.

Castle shook his head. "When someone is in love, they'll wait forever."

Beckett's breath caught in her throat. "Castle..."

"Hopefully he doesn't have to, but he won't go anywhere." Castle told her, stroking her hand softly with his thumb.

"She might need to do something... say something. As an incentive to make him stay." Beckett suggested, softly.

"Only if she's ready." Castle said, squeezing her hand softly for comfort.

"Rick." Beckett croaked, locking her fingers inside of his.

"Yes Kate?" Castle said, looking into her eyes hopefully.

"What if she's scared?" Beckett asked timidly.

Castle smiled at her. "Then he'll be there to hold her, and tell her that it's OK, that he _will_ wait for her, until the time finally comes when she isn't scared anymore."

Beckett shook her head. "I think she's made him wait long enough."

Castle's eyes widened, and he looked at her expectantly.

"R-Rick", Beckett stumbled, nervously.

He tightened his grip on her hands, encouraging her supportively .

Beckett took a deep breath. "She has to tell him now, right this second because she loves him so much that sometimes it feels like she can't breath."

Castle smiled, his eyes glistening. "And by him and she, you mean?"

Beckett smiled back at him. "What I mean is...I love you too Rick."

Castle beamed, but he squinted at her. "Too?"

Beckett took in a shaky breath, she'd known this would be coming, and she was prepared for a verbal lashing.

"Yes... I heard you Rick. I remember."

Castle's grin widened.

Beckett stared at him open mouthed. "You're not mad?"

He looked at her wide eyed. "Mad? Are you kidding? I'm furious!"

He grabbed her and kissed her, to show her exactly how furious he was.

When he pulled away, he still had his hands on the side of her face, he shook her head, playfully.

"You are the most exasperating woman in the world, but I can't help myself... I just love you so much."

Beckett laughed, while tears of relief and joy streamed down her face.

They placed their foreheads together and nudged noses affectionately for a while, occasionally kissing parts of each others' faces.

Beckett sighed, smiling into his mouth. "Well that only took us four years."

Castle gasped. "I _knew_ you'd been in love with me all along."

Beckett bit his lip. "Shut up and kiss me, you over grown child."

"Oh, OK." And Castle did just that, dueling tongues with her as he did. She moaned softly into his mouth.

Their kissing was so filled with so much more passion that it had been previously, and the fact that he knew all of her secrets now, made her feel free and totally turned her on.

"Oh, god I love you", she moaned between fiery kisses.

"Sorry, who do you love?" Castle tested her.

Beckett rolled her eyes, but obliged, licking his ear. "I love _you_ Rick."

Castle groaned in approval, as his mouth smothered hers. "I love you Detective," he breathed out, while transferring his mouth from her lips, to her neck.

She moaned appreciatively, as he bit her clavicle. Her hands went to his hair, caressing his wavy locks.

"Mm, oh Rick..."

Castle groaned into her neck.

A most unwelcome sound then greeted them. Beckett's phone was ringing.

They both paused for a moment in their actions, both hoping futilely that it would just stop.

After the fourth ring however, Beckett pushed herself off Castle and clambered over him to pick it up. Castle complained.

"Go to hell, you stupid phone!"

Beckett couldn't help but smile at his comment as she picked up the phone.

"Beckett."

"Detective Beckett, this is Gareth O'Bryant."

"Oh, Mr. O'Bryant, how are you?"

"Please, it's Gareth. I'm doing alright I guess, considering... Just waiting for my wife's body to be released so I can give her the burial she deserves."

Beckett felt empathy for the man, her voice dripped with sadness. "Of course, Gareth, and we're working as fast as we can to make that happen." Her voice shook with the lie.

Castle rubbed her back, comfortingly. She put the phone on speaker so he could be involved in the conversation.

"Victoria informs me that the killer was wearing black Gucci gloves. I wanted to call because I found it most curious that someone at our retreat would be in possession of such an expensive item. We did after all set it up for couples who have little finance."

"Yes, we thought it was odd too." Beckett said.

"What is even more peculiar is that I bought Caroline a pair of those exact gloves last Christmas, and she never took them off, no matter how hot the weather, but for the past week, I haven't seen them anywhere."

Castle clasped his hand over his mouth, covering a squeal.

"I assure you Gareth, we have a very strong lead, that we will be following up first thing tomorrow, where I am confident we will get those gloves, and with them, we will find our killer."

She paused before asking her next question. "Would you... like them back?" It was a difficult question to ask, they were after all a very special memento of Caroline and Gareth's marriage, and they were worth a lot of money. But they were also used to strangle Caroline, until she died.

"No." Gareth stated, and in a way Beckett was relieved. "I never want to see them again. Perhaps they could be sold to get some money for the retreat, they are worth eight hundred dollars new."

Beckett and Castle's eyes bulged. "Wowza!" Castle mouthed.

"Yes, I can have that arranged." Beckett said kindly.

O'Bryant sighed into the phone. "I know none of this is going to bring Caroline back. But she was a great advocate of the people and of bringing justice into the world. This is hard for me because we had differing views on this but, she didn't believe in corporal punishment, and she wouldn't want to see her killer suffer, so... to honor my wife, I would ask you to be lenient on whoever it is that took her life."

Beckett swallowed a lump in her throat.

"We honor the dead. But we know that it's the living who really need the justice."

"I miss her every second of every day, detective." O'Bryant muttered into the phone.

Keeping her composure barely intact, Kate said what O'Bryant really wanted to hear. "I'm going to get the son of a bitch that did this to Caroline, and they will live well enough to spend time pondering what they've done, and if they don't already then someday, they might start to feel regret."

She could see O'Bryant nodding his head. "Thank you, Detective Beckett", he choked out.

"Get some sleep Gareth. Tomorrow we're going to get you some justice."

"Goodnight Detective."

Beckett turned off her phone and exhaled deeply. Castle placed his hand on her thigh. "Killed with her own gloves", he said gravely.

Beckett had a fire lit inside her. "We have to go to that hospital and talk to Liz."

"Now?" Castle asked.

Beckett shrugged. "We need to find out where she got those gloves from. I _know_ she didn't kill Mrs. O'Bryant, I just know it."

"I agree, but Kate. Do you really want to go there tonight? It's almost midnight. Tom will be needing to rest and Liz won't be up to answering any of our questions... are you so desperate to go there to check out the lead or to see how Tom is?"

Beckett bowed her head, if anyone could see right through her, it was Castle.

"OK, fine, maybe a bit of both", she admitted quietly.

He rubbed her arms with his hands. "I know sweetheart, you're worried and that's natural."

"They've been like parents to me, Rick. Like real parents." She buried her head in his shoulder, he traced soft circles in her back to soothe her.

"First thing tomorrow, we will go and we will kill two birds with one stone - figuratively speaking. We'll find out who our killer is, and we'll find out how Tom is too."

"Maybe we could take him something; a book perhaps."

"The rough guide to conspiracy theories?" Castle suggested.

"Hm, part one or part two?"

Castle looked at her, grinning from ear to ear. "You never cease to amaze me... And that is why I love you."

"Mm, say it again, Rick", Beckett purred, nuzzling his chin with her nose.

"I love you, Kate."

She kissed him on the lips, something between a peck and a pash, and then lay back with him on the bed, relaxing into his chest.

"Did you really call me sweetheart, just before?" She asked earnestly.

His chuckle vibrated in her ear. "Yes, I did. Do you like it?"

She smiled. "I do."

Castle stroked her hair softly and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

"What should I call you?" Beckett asked him seriously.

He took her arms and wrapped them around himself, then wrapped his around her small, delicate frame.

"Rick... I like Rick."

...


	15. Chapter 15 Dumpster Diver

**So, we are getting closer to catching our killer, but nothing is ever as simple as asking and receiving in a murder investigation, right? If it were, crime shows would be boring... OK, maybe not with Beckett and Castle around, I think everyone would agree that an hour of Caskett would work JUST FINE :-) Ahem... anyway, I digress - the story, yes...**

**Enjoy!**

The next morning, Beckett and Castle were rudely awaken by a banging at their door.

Beckett rolled over in her sleep, groaning. "Rrriiick...the door."

Castle stirred. "Huh?"

"The door, someone's at the door."

"Oh, s'pose you should get it then", he muttered sleepily.

Beckett slapped him tiredly. "What kind of a gentleman are you?"

"A sleepy one?", he suggested cutely.

"RICHARD CASTLE AND..." There was a pause as Murray asked someone who the woman in the room was, obviously nobody had bothered to remember her name because he came back with. "THE COP... I WANT YOU TO GET YOUR BEHINDS OUT HERE. NOW!"

Beckett sat bolt upright in the bed. "Shoot, Rick, come on, get up."

But he had already leaped out of bed, and was hastily pulling his pants on.

It took them less than three minutes to answer the door. Murray came bursting in, followed by Jasmine and Sylvia.

"What the hell are you two playing at? Coming here, disrupting the integrity of The Lasting Vows Marriage retreat?" Murray spat at them.

"Look, Murray I know you're upset but..."

"Upset? I'm pissed off is what I am. How dare you two come in here, and try to pull the wool over our eyes. You've made us look like fools. I'm a counselor who prides himself on the ability to seek out people's hidden agendas and you two managed to slip right past me."

"Hey, pal, I'm sorry we hurt your pride, but we had a murder to solve!" Castle threw back at him, before Beckett could say exactly that.

"Well, thanks to your little charade last night, everybody is going to think us counselors here are completely incompetent", Murray huffed, folding his arms in front of him.

"Hey!" Beckett shoved him, making his arms fall to his sides. "That little charade? That little charade?" Each time she said it, she became more enraged.

"That little charade", as you call it; happened to involve someone I care about being in trouble. We're sitting here last night, and I'm just hoping above all hope that he's going to make it through the night. Now, I don't know how much the life of a person means to you, but it happens to be my job; I'm unsure how Tom Delancey is this morning, and I am terrified for his life right now, and nobody is telling me anything!"

Castle put a hand on her shoulder, calming her down slightly. Beckett took a few deep breaths, before resuming.

"So unless you have news about Tom or Liz, then we have work to do - on your boss's orders." She finished through gritted teeth.

Murray, Sylvia and Jasmine all stood looking shiftily at one another. Finally Sylvia headed for the door, prompting the others to do the same.

"Sylvia, we will be needing our keys... now." Castle said, with a tone that warned her to not dare withhold them.

"Yes, Mr. Bexhill, um... Castle."

"Oh, and Sylvia." Beckett said, stopping Sylvia just before she could leave the room.

"You better hope I don't report you for unacceptable workplace behavior." Beckett said with a glare.

Sylvia dashed out of the room, just as Murray closed the door behind the three of them, Beckett and Castle heard him say. "What is she talking about, Sylvia?"

When the door closed, Castle turned to Beckett, a little scared, but mostly impressed.

"Whoa. Katherine Beckett one, slut Sylvia zero."

Beckett shook her head. "Don't call her a slut, she's just a screwed up kid."

"You didn't even give her room, to squirm", Castle laughed.

Beckett grimaced. "Was I too harsh?"

Castle wrapped his arms around her middle. "You were too... awesome."

Beckett smirked. "Well, you are too sexy", she countered, leaning in and kissing him softly on the lips.

"Mm, s'that right?" Castle pulled away from her, lifting up his shirt, presumably intending to give Beckett a strip tease, as he sang. "I'm too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my-"

"Rick!" Beckett squealed, running over to pull his shirt back down. 'As much as I really want to see that, and I mean _really_..."

"...Ever since we first played poker, and I suggested we play strip, right? Don't even deny it, because I saw you undressing me with your eyes." Castle said, unflappably.

"Yes", Beckett did as he said and didn't try to deny it. "But right now", she put her hands on his shoulders and looked into his eyes seriously. "We have a hospital to go to."

"Right... why did I have to fall in love with a homicide detective?" He wined.

She rubbed his face with a smile. "You got bored and you found me."

"Actually you found me." Castle reminded her.

"This is no time for technicalities, Rick." Beckett said, wanting to end this conversation so they could get going quickly. But, Richard Castle was the king of procrastination.

"At a book signing I believe, where you very rudely interrupted me with your badge and your smart attitude."

"Yes, a book signing for basically the end of a series, and then before I know it... boom. Nikki Heat is born.", she said, packing Castle's clothes into his suitcase.

"And the re-birth of Rick Castle begins", Castle praised.

"Exactly, I saved your butt, where on earth would you be if we had never met?" Beckett said, teasingly, folding his shirt that she'd worn out of the woods.

"In a very lonely place", Castle said so seriously, it made Beckett look up.

She tilted her head at him, and gave him a sad smile, before walking up to him and kissing him on the cheek. "I think we both would have been there", she said, ruffling his hair.

They smiled softly at one another, before Beckett resumed her packing, Castle stayed rooted in his spot, admiring the woman in front of him, pondering over how much he really loved her.

Beckett looked up at him expectantly. "You going to help me with this or what?" She grinned, realizing this was probably the first time they'd done something truly akin to a married couple.

He grinned back and stepped toward her, taking a towel from her. "Sorry sweetheart."

Needless to say, he was quickly forgiven.

...

Not wanting to face the rest of the members at the retreat, and feeling a sense of urgency about getting to the hospital to see Tom, and more importantly to see Liz, Castle and Beckett opted to have a cup of coffee in their room, and sneak out of the camp, hopefully unnoticed.

Making sure they had everything, they stepped out their room and proceeded to the office where they would collect their key from Sylvia.

"I know it's strange but I'm actually going to miss this place."

"You're right that is strange", Beckett smirked.

"I just have never been to one of these with a woman I'm not actually having problems with. I've never realized from the outside looking in, how much fun these places can be, if you let them."

Beckett giggled. "Yeah, especially when you skive off work to have sex."

Castle gave her a searing look. "Well, who says you can't mix business with pleasure?"

Beckett brushed her hip up against his purposefully. "Mm, a lot of pleasure."

"T-rruck loads", Castle growled making Beckett laugh, but turning away from him, her face went deadly serious and she stopped in her tracks.

"Liz", Beckett whispered. For there, standing in front on them, was their dear friend and prime suspect.

Liz looked disheveled, and tired. her cheeks were tear stained, her body slumped as she saw Beckett's familiar face, inviting her to do with her whatever Beckett felt was best, entrusting in her friend to realize the truth.

"You came back..." Castle whispered, disbelievingly.

Beckett ran to Liz, and grabbed her forcefully in her arms, not to arrest her, but to embrace her. "Liz, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I doubted you."

Liz pulled away to hold her face. "No, you know, I don't think you ever did, and even if you did I know you never wanted to, even when all of the evidence was pointing directly at me. And that my dear, is the biggest gift. The biggest gift a friend could give. Your trust in me, when nobody else had it, I'll never stop being grateful for that."

Beckett hugged her tightly again.

Castle who was watching from afar began to feel guilty. When Liz and Beckett's exchange came to an end, he approached the older woman. "Liz, I..."

To his surprise, Liz grabbed ahold of him as tightly as she had done with Beckett. "Richard Castle, you I owe my marriage to, and my marriage is all that is important to me. So anything else that you might have had a dubious thought about... none of it matters. Because you saved my Tom and me."

Beckett wasted no time, again choosing to access the state of the living first. "How is Tom?"

Liz nodded sadly. "He's in theatre."

"What?" Beckett was both horrified and terrified.

Castle held her hand. "What is it?"

Liz inhaled. "A brain tumor."

"Oh my god." Beckett cried out. Castle squeezed her hand.

"Benign?" He asked with hope in his voice.

But his hope was dashed, when Liz shook her head. "No, it's malignant. He'll need radiation after it's removed. Which is why he's been put in theatre so quickly. He's such a tough old soul, though, he'll get through."

"I know he will Liz, but what about you?" Beckett said, softly.

Liz shrugged, and laughed softly. "The only thing I'm really worried about is the fact that we're going to have to mortgage our house again to pay for all the medical bills that are coming... Tom and I had made plans only yesterday... to celebrate our 30th next year, we were going to go on an African Safari - for real. It's always been a dream of ours, but now I don't see it happening, and that's what frightens me more than anything, that I won't be able to support Tom through all of this. I mean, the least he deserves after going through months of what they say will be hell; is a holiday, someplace far away, to get away from the chemo and the tumor, and all the damn agony." Liz broke down, sobbing. Beckett sobbed too.

Castle relinquished his grasp on Beckett's hand just for a moment, so that he could take Liz into his arms.

"No, Liz. That's not what's going to happen." Liz continued to bawl in his arms.

"Because I'm going to pay for Tom's medical fees."

Liz's head shot up, but she continued to bawl. "W-what?" She stammered, in disbelief.

"The trip away, and what ever else you need... it'll be covered", he told her confidently.

Beckett looked at him, and suddenly felt ashamed at herself for not telling him she loved him sooner than last night.

"I-I c-can't ask y-you to d-do that." Liz waved her hand.

"You're not asking, I'm offering", Castle smiled genuinely. He narrowed his eyes at her, but still held an impish grin on his face. "As long as you're _not_ our killer of course."

Liz gasped through her tears. "I'm n-not, I s-swear I'm not."

Beckett spoke to her with a soft voice. "I believe you Liz." She looked at Castle who winked at her. "We both do."

Beckett placed a hand on Liz's shoulder and said as comfortingly as she could. "And when you're ready, you'll tell us what you know."

Liz straightened up her back, and wiped away her tears. She spoke with a stronger, more determined voice than Beckett had ever heard from her. "I'm ready now."

...

Beckett, Castle and Liz went to the supply room, where they could speak in privacy. The room, Castle realized had become a sort of make-shift interrogation room, since they had questioned Steve Andrews about his relationship with Mrs. O'Bryant.

The three of them sat down on deck chairs that Castle unfolded for them.

"OK, Liz, first thing's first. The gloves, where did you get them, who gave them to you?"

"Well, I am a little bit ashamed to tell you, I mean it's not something I usually do."

"You didn't... cheat... on Tom?" Castle asked, dreading her answer.

Liz shook her head quickly. "No! No, of course not, I..." She leaned in closer to Castle and Beckett, to whisper. "I dumpster dove." She pulled back with her eyes tightly shut, looking extremely embarrassed.

Beckett and Castle looked at each other. "Well, hey, I go dumpster diving all the time... the things people throw away, I tell you it's amazing", Castle professed.

He looked pointedly at Beckett, tilting his head toward Liz. "Oh, yeah, totally, I mean... where do you think I got this jacket?" She lied far less easily than Castle.

Castle gave her an awkward smile.

"Oh, I just saw the gloves, and something told me to go in after them. I walk past the Gucci store on my way to work so I'd seen them in the window at least a dozen times. Occasionally I used to stop and look in there and just... dream."

Castle and Beckett looked at her sadly.

"So when I saw them there, perfect and thankfully unsoiled, I just grabbed them. When I learned they'd been used to kill someone? I didn't want to ever see them again. I took them off as soon as I got to the hospital."

Castle gasped. "Please tell us you didn't get rid of them."

Liz looked at them with an odd expression. "I've read your books, Richard, I know how to preserve evidence."

Castle looked a little bit embarrassed, Beckett tried to disguise her smirk as a twitch.

"I have them in the car, I asked one of the nurses to put them in one of those little baggies people put their urine samples in." Liz told them.

Castle made a face. "Gross."

"It was convenient!" Liz said, defending herself.

Beckett punched Castle on the arm. "You did the right thing Liz, you did good."

Liz smiled.

"So you got them out of the dumpster, do you have any idea who put them in there?" Beckett asked.

"No, I guess the person who threw them out didn't want to be seen. They're obviously the ones who killed Mrs. O'Bryant right?"

Beckett nodded. "That's what it looks like... Liz did you know those gloves belonged to Mrs. O'Bryant herself?"

Liz gasped, looking confused. "How could someone kill her with her own gloves?"

"I know, it's horrible", Castle said.

"No, I mean how is it possible? I never saw her but people always said she never had those gloves off her hands. A friend of mine spoke to her once and she told her she believed they brought good luck and happiness to whoever wore them, because it was the first gift her husband brought her himself, before that Christmas, he'd always had his assistant buy her something. That's why they were so special to her."

Beckett blinked. "Gareth never told us that."

Liz hummed. "Well, grief does things to a person, gives them a certain kind of amnesia for a while. Take it from me, I know."

Beckett nodded, knowingly. "Yeah, it took me about six months to remember my dad and I having dinner the night my mom was killed. All I could remember for those first six months was the look on Raglan's face when he told us... that was the name of the cop that delivered the news." She added, for Liz's benefit.

"I'm so sorry my dear." Liz said, reaching across to take her hand. "I do know sort of what you mean though. After last night, after I thought I was going to lose Tom, everything from yesterday is a definite wash... I don't even remember what I had for breakfast!"

"Ah, I believe it was Tom." Castle chuckled.

Liz and Beckett laughed.

Liz looked at the two people in front of her, her eyes tearing up. Suddenly, she burst forward out of her chair and brought them together in a bone-crushing hug. "We are friends aren't we?"

"We surely are Liz", Beckett smiled, despite being suffocated by the woman.

"Always", Castle said, sharing his secret little sentiment with just one other woman.

Beckett gave him a discreet smile, showing him she approved of his choice of word.

Liz didn't see when they joined hands beneath her, locking them together.

Together forever.

Together always.

**A/N: So, we are getting warmer, the next chapter will reveal a lot about the case, and about the killer who is... HA! You didn't actually think I was going to say any more did you? (Evil grin) See you next chapter!**


	16. Chapter 16 The Arrest

**Heya folks, sorry I didn't update yesterday, and sorry this one isn't too long - I had a bit of drama yesterday, my mum had to be raced to hospital, because she was having constant seizures :-/ So... yeah, eat your heart out Tom and Liz drama right? **

** She'll be fine though, she hounds me for updates too haha. She loves my stories (though certain parts I would never read out loud to her!)**

**Enjoy!**

Castle and Beckett walked out to Liz's car, where she gave them the gloves.

"Give our love to Tom", Beckett hugged Liz tightly, as she said goodbye to her in the car park.

"I will, my dear, you two keep in touch, you hear?" Liz told her sternly.

Castle smiled, wrapping an arm around Beckett's shoulders. "Just try and keep us away."

Beckett felt a sense of melancholy as she watched Liz drive away from the retreat.

Typically, she wasn't a very open person, particularly when it came to expressing herself emotionally, but there was something in Liz that was so similar to her mother, so much like the home she once knew, that it made her feel like she was a teenager again, a free spirit, and the weight of her current world seemed to be alleviated whenever Liz was around.

She sighed deeply, Castle held her close to him.

"This is so stupid. Why does it hurt so much to say goodbye?" Beckett choked.

Castle turned her into his arms and held her as tightly as possible, caressing her hair, he whispered gently. "If it didn't hurt, it wouldn't be love."

Beckett cried into his shoulder. "Don't ever leave me Rick, I won't survive, I know I won't."

Castle swallowed a lump in his throat. "Yes you would, that's what you do, it's who you are is a survivor."

Her body stiffened in his embrace.

"But don't worry, I've got no plans that don't have you in them... I'm not going anywhere." He murmured to her softly.

She pulled away from him gently and caressed the back of his head before bringing his mouth to hers in a kiss that she poured all of her heart into. When she pulled away, Castle looked like he'd just swallowed the moon, with the glow that his face was giving off.

"Don't look now", he said, playing with delicate curls of her hair. "But I think we're on candid camera."

He motioned with his head toward a security camera that was sitting not so securely on top of lamp post.

Beckett blushed and smiled, as they both ran fingers through each other's hair.

All at once, as it so often did. a bolt of lightening coursed through both of their minds at the same instant. Mouths agape. their heads both flicked up to stare at the security camera that covered the car park, and thus, has a perfect view of the dumpster where Liz had found the pair of Gucci's.

...

"OK, so the victim was killed Friday around midday, and Liz says she got the gloves out of the trash at around 4, so the time stamp we're looking for is sometime early last tuesday afternoon." Beckett told Jasmine, who, despite Murray's reluctance to cooperate, had offered to help them by downloading the tape from the camera on to the office computer (and only because Murray was shut up by Beckett, and warned to comply with her or she would; as she put it - "Let the therapist taste my iron fist" - which Castle said he was totally using for his next book.)

"OK, this is Tuesday afternoon, so, what we want is right about... here." Jasmine stopped the tape with a click of the mouse, at the first glimpse of movement by the dumpster.

Castle and Beckett leaned close to the screen.

"Well it's definitely a woman," Castle pointed out something that everyone could already see.

"Are we able to zoom in on her face?" Beckett asked Jasmine. She shot Beckett a look; like the computer which was probably made in the early 90's really had that capability.

"Right", Beckett said quickly, turning back to the screen.

"Look at her left hand", Castle then said.

"No ring", Beckett responded.

"A lot of the people here don't wear their rings, either they were never given one - big tip off for trouble ahead", Jasmine embelished. "Or they just don't wear them, because they think their marriage is already doomed."

"You're sure it's not a staff member?" Beckett asked, with a slight accusatory tone. which earned her another look from Jasmine.

"Please, you think we have anyone that bony and crinkly working here, our staff have to be fit, in case couples try to kill each other."

"Yeah, well fat lot of good that did Mrs. O'Bryant... wait a second." Beckett paused.

"What is it?" Castle asked her.

"That haircut... there's only one person here who's that old but thinks they're young enough to pull off that look."

Castle raised his eyebrows at her.

...

BANG!

Beckett crashed through the door of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews.

Unsurprisingly, Steve Andrews was asleep on the couch. When Beckett and Castle crashed into the room, followed by a very disgruntled Murray, he woke up with a start and rubbed his face, grumpily. "What the hell are you lot doing in my room?"

"Your wife in the bedroom?" Beckett asked, skipping formality.

"I don't know, I'm hungover... I'm going back to sleep", he said, laying back down on the couch.

Beckett scoffed and turned to Murray. "Stay here, and if he goes back to sleep, you have my permission to smack him around."

That prompted Steve to keep one eye open.

"Dry up Steve," Beckett spat at him.

She walked over to the bedroom door, and banged on it. "Mary-Beth Andrews, open up!"

There was a yelp from inside. "Ah, d-don't come in!" They heard the blonde yell.

Beckett shook her head once, rolling her eyes and pushed the door open forcefully.

Mary-Beth screamed, covering herself with the duvet. She wasn't alone in the bed.

"Justin?" Beckett balked.

The young counselor's head feebly popped up from where it had been, buried under... well, under the blankets, anyway.

Castle's eyes bulged. "What is _wrong_ with you people?"

Beckett huffed, and walked over to Mary-Beth. "Mary-Beth Andrews, you're under arrest for the murder of Caroline O'Bryant."

She didn't resist.

"That piece of upper class trash deserved what she had coming to her. Everybody thought she was a saint, but the truth is she was just using this place to get a bit of tail, wherever she could find it!" Mary-Beth snarled.

Over the other side of the room, Castle scoffed. "Completely opposite to you then?"

Beckett felt like slapping the scrawny woman, she knew she could easily take her out.

"You have the right to remain silent, so I suggest you make the most of it...and for god sakes get some clothes on", Beckett spat at her.

...

Once Mary-Beth was as decent as could be achieved for such a vile woman, Beckett cuffed her tighter than necessary, and took her out to the living room.

"Why'd you do it Mary-Beth?" Beckett asked with deep-seeded loathing in her voice.

Mary-Beth shook her head. "Ugh, that old tart, I caught her you know, with Steve, getting all cosy with him, even caught them making out."

Castle thought to himself "People your age DO NOT make out."

Steve who was standing at the door interjected. "We were hugging

She really thought she could steal my husband from me?"

"Oh what, so it's OK for you to sleep with twenty year olds, but your husband is supposed to be totally devoted to you?" Beckett asked reproachfully.

"We have a system, he likes to watch", Mary-Beth said with a shrug. "She really thought she could steal my husband from me?"

"You stupid, delusional, anorexic cow!" Steve suddenly burst out. "Caroline was helping me to be a better husband. I was trying to save our marriage."

"Mary-Beth, how did you get Caroline's gloves, you steal them?" Beckett asked her cooly.

Mary-Beth let out a bark of a laugh. "She lent them to me, can you believe that? That was how I knew there was something going on between them, she _gave_ me her gloves, the gloves everyone said she never took off. That's what really tipped me off, she was trying to get all buddy-buddy with me, so I wouldn't suspect her of schtooping my husband."

"She was just a good person, Mary-Beth! And you..." Steve walked toward her, seething with rage.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa", Castle held him back.

"You killed her! You stupid bitch... you killed Caroline!"

Steve fell to his knees, breaking down in tears.

Mary-Beth just rolled her eyes at him. "Get up, you over-dramatic slime."

Steve's head shot up. "All the years I've put up with the other men and the maxing out the credit cards..."

"Yeah, and I've put up with the drinking and the gambling and the late nights out with the boys at the strip clubs."

"Yeah, well I never slept with any other woman, not until I came here at least. Coming here only made me realize that our marriage had no hope. That's when I got with Sylvia."

"That tart receptionist?" Mary-Beth was horrified. Castle and Beckett both smirked at her discomfort.

"Yeah, I fucked her brains out... and you know what, she was a million times better than best I've ever had with you."

Mary-Beth leaped off the couch. "I'll kill you, you bastard, I killed that bitch and I'll kill you too!"

Beckett grabbed her wrists to hold her back. "Sounds like a confession to me, what do you think Castle?"

"Yup, looks like after years of cubs going down on her. Mary-Beth is going down for once." Castle grinned at his own wit. Beckett rolled her eyes at him but couldn't suppress a smile.

Steve grabbed his coat, with a final word to his wife. "Don't think I'm going to bail you out. You won't be getting a cent."

With that he stormed out of the room.

"In other words, Mary-Beth... it's over." Beckett muttered into Mary-Beth's ear.

...

"Yes sir, we're sending the tape through to the DA's office now, and we'll be personally escorting Andrews to lockup, just as soon as we make this one pit stop", Beckett said through the phone to Gates.

Their first order of business after making their arrest of Mary-Beth Andrews was to contact Captain Gates and tell her the good news, while on the way to their first port of call; Mount Sinai hospital, to see Tom.

"Nice work detective. And let me be the first to say... thank you."

Beckett was slightly taken aback for a moment at the Captain's sincerity.

"Thanks to you, one of my dearest friends can now be assured that the one girl who ever turned him down, is now a captain who will never give up on him."

Beckett raised her eyebrows.

"Um... thank you?"

"Have the rest of the weekend off, Beckett. I'll see you in the pen on Monday."

"Yes, sir."

Beckett hung up the phone and turned to Castle with a snort, as they walked through one of the many long, sterile corridors. "Did she really just have the gall to sound like she'd solved this case all on her own?"

"Yeah, well praise god she did something at least a little conceited. When I heard her say she wanted to be the first to thank us, I thought she might have contracted a serious illness", Castle said.

Beckett smirked and put a hand on his shoulder. "Aw, are you developing a bit of a soft spot for Iron Gates there, Rick?" She teased.

"Ha! Yeah right. The only cop I have a soft spot for is you", Castle grinned toothily at her.

"Ooh, Ryan and Espo would be wounded", she said, only half seriously.

"Well thankfully I don't have to rely on them for sex", Castle smirked.

"Oh well you don't _have_ to rely on me for sex, either, Castle..."

"...Hey what happened to Rick?" Castle pouted, cutting her off.

"You didn't let me finish", Beckett wagged her finger at him, invading his personal space.

"Unfortunately though, I do have to rely on _you_ for sex, because you happen to be the only man in the world I would dare share my secret with, and only because I never had a choice in the matter."

He pulled her into an alcove, out of the way of two doctors rushing along with an empty cart, and bent down to her, nuzzling her neck with his nose. "And which secret is that detective?"

"That for me, oxygen is not purely a necessity", she nipped his ear lobe.

"And that's unfortunate? Because I sure haven't heard you complaining about that." Castle whispered into her neck, swiping it with his tongue.

"Well these days, usually when you're around my mouth is otherwise engaged", Beckett smiled into his forehead.

Castle ran his hands down the sides of her waist. "Well, I'm certainly not complaining about _that_."

Beckett laughed.

Castle took her hand in his and they resumed walking again.

"I was thinking", Castle mused, making Beckett look up at him.

"You know yesterday when we were talking about the first time we met each other?"

"How I interrupted your riveting little launch party with my boring old muder case?" Beckett winked.

"And you remember a while ago, me telling you that I'd saved your life more times than you had mine?"

"At which point you felt compelled to provide me with a comprehensive list of each singular event", she nodded, rolling her eyes.

"Exactly... well, I'm afraid I may have shortchanged you."

"How so?"

Castle stopped walking again, taking Beckett's hands in his. "You didn't just save my butt that day, you saved my life."

Beckett tilted her head, squinting at him adoringly.

"I was performing in an endless circus of nothing ever mattering. My wagon was hitched to a horse galloping eighty miles an hour down a path of endless parties, countless bimbos, and I never would have diverted from that life of such meaninglessness if you hadn't come and thrown a penny on my track."

Beckett shook her head at his beyond sweet statement. "Do you know how happy I am that you love me?"

Castle smiled. "I'm happy that you're happy I love you."

Beckett chuckled and leaned into her lover to bump noses with him.

"Kate, Richard!" They heard a familiar sounding voice.

Beckett's face broke into a beam, as she pulled out of Castle's grasp and walked over to hug her very dear new friend.

"Liz, how is he?"

"See for yourself", Liz smiled at them, motioning to their left where through a window they could see Tom waving weakly to them from his hospital bead, head bandaged tightly, many wires and tubes connected to him.

Castle and Beckett grinned and waved back.

Liz sighed contentedly as she squeezed between her two friends, putting an arm around each of them. "Life really is going to be OK, isn't it?" She said, happily.

Castle and Beckett shifted their eyes from Tom, to one another, both smiling the biggest smiles two people with nine lives had ever smiled.

Life was going to be more than OK.

**A/N: So the case is solved - what now? Read on to find out :D A couple chapters left...**


	17. Chapter 17 Back at the loft

**Thank you so much for your kind words again everyone, you are all over-the-top, beyond amazing!**

**I have to say, I'm quite proud of this chapter. I've had a rough couple of days, and it's so great just to be able to come home and find a bit of solace in my writing :-)**

**I hope you enjoy this, as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

Castle opened the door of his loft, allowing Kate to step in ahead of him.

"Dad you're home!" Alexis said, rushing over to hug her father.

"Hey pumpkin", Castle squeezed the young redhead tightly in his arms.

He pulled away from her, but kept his hands on her forearms. "You miss me?" He asked, giving her a puppy dog look.

"Meh", she shrugged him off.

Castle's mouth dropped in mock horror. "That "meh", better be short for "Meh than anythin' Pops!" He said with a thick Bostonian accent.

Beside him, Beckett giggled at father and daughter's cute interaction; Alexis knew how to play her father as well as her father knew how to play Beckett.

Alexis's head turned to the cop. "Detective Beckett, it's good to see you." She fidgeted on the spot for a moment before practically knocking Beckett over with a hug.

Beckett stood looking a little stunned for a moment. She quickly realized that even though they'd had dinner together the last time they'd seen each other, Alexis had just broken up with her boyfriend and hadn't really had the chance to properly thank Beckett for saving her Dad's life.

She smiled as she summarized the embrace from the young woman as payment in full. "You too, Alexis."

Off to the side, Castle's eyes shone to see the sight in front of him.

"Where's Gram?" Castle asked Alexis.

"Uh, she said something about a martini-fest and leg waxing", Alexis said, looking pained.

Castle grimaced. "Ooh, sorry I asked."

"Hey, I love your outfit, by the way", Beckett said, playing with the brim of the grey cap Alexis was wearing on top of her ginger-blonde hair.

Alexis smiled. "Thanks."

"It's very stylish", Beckett smiled back.

"Ooh, you should take that as a huge compliment, she's a fashion designer now, don't you know", Castle said, snaking his arm around Beckett's waist.

The subtle interaction didn't go unnoticed by Alexis.

Alexis's eyes narrowed suspiciously as she looked from her dad to the detective. Beckett thought this was a reaction to what Castle had just said about Beckett's sudden, dramatic career change.

She waved her hand dismissively. "I just spent a week pretending to be a fashion designer,...a complete calamity", she rolled her eyes and nudged Castle's side with her elbow. "All your father's brilliant idea."

Alexis raised her eyebrows again at this new kind of interaction between them. "Oh yes, your undercover mission... as a married couple right?"

"The Bexhills", Castle grinned.

"So did you get your man, Detective Beckett?" Alexis queried her.

There was something in the young girl's tone that made Beckett blush.

"Woman, actually", Castle butted in, oblivious.

Alexis nodded, trying not to smirk in Beckett's direction.

"So, pumpkin, Kate's right... you do look a picture tonight, and I'm thinking you haven't just dressed up to celebrate my homecoming... however momentous the occasion might be."

Alexis shook her head and rolled her eyes at her kid-like Dad. "Actually I'm going over to Lacey's. We're going to look at college brochures together. We've decided it would be really cool if we got into the same one, then at least we'd have someone there we knew."

Castle nodded his head fervently, and practically pushed her out the door. "Oh honey that sounds like such a good plan!" He over-emphasized.

Alexis nodded, a broad grin on her face. "Yeah, we thought so."

"Aw, well you two kids have fun OK?" He said, opening the door for her.

"Same to you two", Alexis said coyly, looking pointedly at Kate, who bit her lip. She wondered if the girls might come across a police college in their search for their tertiary education, she was starting to think the teenager would make a damn good detective.

"OK honey, hey I love you", Castle said, trying to close the door on her.

"Love you too. Bye Detective Beckett", Alexis shouted over her dad's arm.

"Oh hey, Alexis?" Beckett called out to her.

Alexis poked her head over her dad's shoulder.

"It's Kate, kay?" Kate smiled warmly.

Alexis radiated back all of her warmth and more. "Have a good night, Kate."

With that, Castle blew Alexis a few kisses and finally succeeded in shutting her out of the loft. Turning to Beckett, his face was alight with happiness.

She furrowed her brow at him. "You were trying to get rid of her; why? And why do you just look like the cat who ate the canary?" Kate accused him, not able to suppress her own smile.

"Do you have any idea who Lacey is?" Castle asked her.

Beckett shook her head.

"Her father is one of the top influential marketing specialists in the city. Totally loaded and VERY protective of his family. You can bet, any school that Lacey goes to will be not only amazing, but in close proximity to home."

Beckett nodded, understanding. "So, daddy can be near his little girl."

"Exactly!" Castle practically jumped up and down with excitement at the prospect.

Beckett chuckled at his cuteness. "Did I ever tell you what a great father you are?"

Castle calmed down long enough to walk over to her and take her hand in his to place a gentle kiss on it. "Did I ever tell you what a great... everything, you are?"

Beckett laughed. "I'm everything?"

Castle took her face in his hands. "You're everything to me", he told her sincerely.

She sighed, the laughter fading but the smile staying fixed.

"I love you, Kate."

She bit her lip (yet again) shaking her head slightly, looking at him, hoping he could see the adoration pouring out of her every pore. "Prove it?" It wasn't a demand, more a request.

He wasted no time. In less than a nano-second his lips were on hers, clearly putting his point across to her.

Her arms slowly reached to wrap around his neck, pulling him closer than humanly possible.

Their kiss was slow, long and passionate - a stark contrast to their fiery exchange in the woods.

It suddenly dawned on Beckett in that moment, that this was no longer a fantasy.

For the past year, maybe even more, she'd had many fantasies about Richard Castle.

Some involved very little or no clothing. Some simply involved moments like just before, with Alexis.

She fantasized about coming home from work to find him waiting in her kitchen, with a glass of wine in his hand, ready to hear about her day, and jot it all down on paper.

She fantasized about Christmas dinners with the two of them, joined by Martha and Jim and Alexis.

She also fantasized about Christmas dinners with a couple of dark haired blue-eyed kids running around splitting crackers with everyone and spilling gravy all over their Christmas sweaters.

And Christmas mornings where they would wake with delight to find that Santa had bought them everything they'd wished for (Thanks to their daddy's fortune.)

And then, when the children were in bed, after a day of snowball fights (initiated by their father) and singing Christmas songs around their piano, taught to them by their Gram; Rick and Kate Castle would retreat to their bedroom, where the Christmas candles they'd lit would burn out quicker than their passion did.

And yes, sure they had made love a couple of times now, but it was still part of a fantasy; a grown up version of playing pretend.

But being here, now, in his loft. Both of them bidding his daughter goodnight, and talking about her future together, it was all real and anything seemed possible.

She smiled serenely into his mouth as he continued to explore brand new faucets on her body that he could turn her on with.

His kissed along her collarbone, hands running over her arms and torso, while inching her closer to his bedroom.

She suppressed a moan when he slipped a hand into the back of her pants, lightly brushing her ass with his fingertips.

Before she had another clear thought, she had crashed down onto his bed, sandwiched between him and his hand.

He clambered to his knees, straddling her. Her eyes shone up at him, insisting he do with her whatever he wished.

Silently, slowly, he slid his warm hand from her backside, upward to her hip, where it began to lift up her shirt.

Beckett's breath caught in her throat for a moment, and she crushed his hand against the mattress, making him cease in his actions.

She looked at him, eyes brimming with concern.

"What is it?" He asked her, worriedly.

She said nothing, only reached behind herself to pull her top back down. Suddenly, Castle realized what she was afraid of.

"Don't cover them up." He shook his head simply.

Her hands stilled, and she looked up at him, mouth opened to protest, but he he covered it with his index finger.

Castle spoke softly to her. "Those scars are like a title page on the book of who you are. They show what you've been through, what you've overcome. The sacrifices you've made and the love you've lost. Nobody else can ever carry the burden that you do, and that is what these represent."

Beckett swallowed a lump in her throat, as a tear slid down her cheek.

"Please, Kate, never hide your scars from me... they're what make you so beautiful."

Barely decipher-ably, she nodded, taking his hands in her own, and guiding them as they pulled her shirt up and over her head.

Tossing it aside, he stared down at her knock-out body. It was totally flawless, except for a three inch line of scar tissue beneath her left bra-line, and a circular piercing right between her breasts.

Lighter than a feather, his thumb caressed the spot where her life had almost spilled out of her completely. Seeking approval, and finding something closer to encouragement in her eyes, he bent down over her and placed a delicate kiss on the near-fatal welt.

Beckett shivered beneath him. She had never been in a situation so erotic and so full of emotion all at once.

She lifted her back off the bed, allowing him to undo her black satin bra. Never once did his eyes leave hers as his delicate fingers undid the hooks. She felt the fabric slide away before she could chose to let go of her inhibitions, or not, and was instantly grateful that she never got the chance. The look on his face made her gladly expose herself, bringing this shy part of her her to the forefront, and turning timid into brazen.

She felt a chill go through her, and a soft moan escape her lips when he ran his thumb over one of her taught nipples. She found herself looking at him with eyes of longing, and he must have read them correctly, as he suddenly had his mouth on her breast. Her stomach muscles contracted as he sucked and licked her tit, she tried to maintain her calm breathing, her body shook as she did. His other hand worked her other breast, and then swapped around, the friction creating waves desire within her.

She groaned with pleasure, more at the act than the sensation. Running her fingers through his hair and down his neck, she tugged the collar of his dress shirt. He groaned with annoyance at having to take leave from his task for a moment, so she could rid him of his shirt. She pulled on the collar, using it to prize herself off the bed and come to a sitting position in front of him. Eyes full of desire and wanting, she undid his buttons painfully slowly.

He moaned in anticipation as her fingers worked each button, at which time she paused in her actions completely and put her fingers over his mouth, telling him to shush. He squirmed impatiently. Finally the last button was undone, and she slid his shirt off his arms.

She smiled in appreciation as she took in his well-toned chest. Moving her hands to lightly grasp his sides, she bent over him, bare-chest to bare-chest, and placed kisses all over his chest and waist. Sighing, he occupied his hands by playing with her hair. Her tongue found a sensitive nipple, as his fingers rubbed the nape of her neck, making them both moan aloud. She worked them both with her hot mouth, and then licked all the way down to his waist line, where she began to remove his belt. He exhaled in quick sharp breaths, trying desperately to control himself. She lifted him off her and turned him so that she was on top. She pulled his pants and underwear down at once, revealing all his wanting for her.

With dusky eyes, she very slowly leaned over and began placing wet kisses up the inside of his thigh. He huffed loudly when she reached his throbbing penis, and pecked lightly with her lips, up and down his long shaft. Letting him suffer only minimally, she engulfed him fully. He groaned constantly, banging the mattress with his fists until she finished him off.

Wanting him to taste his own saltiness, she left his pulsing mass to meet his mouth, which he gladly accepted. Tongues dueling, his hand found the front of her jeans, which he used to lever her around to lie beneath him once more.

Her nails dug into his back as he rubbed himself against the tight denim of her crotch.

Before she could decipher which way was up and which was down, he'd discarded her pants as well, leaving them both completely naked together.

She moved into him as he used his hands on her ass cheeks to bring her mound to his open mouth. Jolts of electricity instantly made her pulse against his tongue. She let out a noise that began as a sigh and turned into a groan. It took hardly a minute for the wash of excitement to come flooding out of her. She let his tongue taste her juices, before pulling him to her to taste them herself.

Their hands developed minds of their own, as they caressed and rubbed and pinched at every bit of each other they could reach. She locked her arm around his calf and brought it onto the bed, beside her. She shuffled back, bringing him with her and then put her arms around his neck to pull her flush to him.

For a while, they sat up against each other, simply relishing in the friction their two bodies created. His cock brushing up against her each time they moved.

They both relaxed into each other, taking a moment to calm their breathing before resuming.

Lifting her up slightly off the bed, his stiff rod finally found her chasm.

Both grunted as he slid himself effortlessly through her wetness.

She cried out as his tip hit her sweet spot. They moved with each other in a slow, sexual tango. Their hands roamed each others' backs. The actions became more decisive and the both screamed out. "I love you."

The two of them released together, growling and eventually allowing themselves to let the natural thing happen and breathe erratically.

They sat, panting up against one another for what seemed like hours. Eventually, Castle felt his eyes dropping with tiredness and he lightly stroked Beckett's back, causing her to stir from her own relaxed state.

He took her hand, and gently lay her down on his bed, pulling his out from under her small frame, he climbed in beside her and covered them both.

Beckett sighed contentedly into the warmth of his bed, thinking she could get used to this.

"Satisfied?" Castle asked from the pillow beside her.

She turned over to fact him, smiling devilishly. "Mm, very."

Castle raised his eyebrows at her. "Glad to hear that, but that's not what I meant."

"Oh, you mean about you loving me", Beckett feigned.

Castle rolled his eyes at her teasing of him.

She winked. "Very."

He smiled, content and closed his eyes.

Beckett gazed upon the most incredible, caring, generous man she'd ever met, and opened her mouth feebly to say one last thing before she gave into sleep.

"Rick... thank you for loving me."

Castle's eyes flickered opened and he turned his head to where he gazed upon the most amazing, cherishing, beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on. There he poured his entire heart and soul into just one word.

"Always."

**A/N: So, just letting you know that this is not the last chapter, but I will be writing only one or two more. Look out for those in the next couple of days!**


	18. Chapter 18 Somewhere

**So sorry for the delay everyone, my mum is home from hospital now, and, like all of you probably; has been anxiously awaiting the new chapter! So without any further ado... here it is :-)**

Beckett awoke to the smell of bacon and eggs wafting into the bedroom from the direction of Castle's kitchen.

She stretched contently in the over-sized bed, reveling in the feeling of the satin sheets and the familiar scent of Castle. She closed her eyes for a moment, recalling last night, storing it into her memory bank; hoping there would be more like it to add later.

She sighed happily and got out of bed in her naked state, pulling one of the bed sheets with her, wrapping it around herself as a form of very suggestive clothing.

She giggled at the thought of the look on Castle's face when she walked out wearing only his sheet. Usually, after sex with a man, even one she was in a committed relationship with; her routine had always been to make sure she was up first, get dressed (properly) and leave without having to bear any conversation. But with Castle it was different. She'd tasted some of what life would be like living with the Castle-Rogders clan last night, and she wanted more.

She sashayed out through the office and into the living room, still wearing nothing but the sheet. She saw him, busy at work in the kitchen, flipping an egg with his spatula.

"Hello Rick." She drawled.

"You're up?" He wined, his back turned to her, not leaving his practical work of art of a breakfast, for one second. "I was going to bring you breakfast in be-" He turned and saw her.

"Hm?" She asked him innocently, trying to refrain from laughing.

He spluttered for a second. "Sweetheart", he finally managed very breathily.

"Mm?" She walked a step closer, letting the sheet part slightly to show her bare leg.

"Is that my sheet?" He asked with a gulp. "Mhm", she grinned.

"I know a lot of cops; I could have someone book you for theft", he said seriously.

Beckett simply shook her head, still grinning.

"But we needn't resort to that, if you just return it to me right now, we can put this matter to bed - figuratively speaking of course; and no charges will be filed against you."

Beckett frowned playfully. "But I like having things against me." Castle's mouth dropped.

Beckett walked towards him slowly and seductively. "Especially a sexy, powerful, fully-loaded... Glock."

She pressed herself up against him. He panted. "I-I think you mean co-"

"Good morning darlings!" Martha's always cherry voice rang out in the room.

Beckett jumped in fright, bouncing as far away from Castle as she could manage while being inconspicuous. "M-Martha... I didn't know you were here.. ah, home." Beckett blurted out.

"Yes, well I got in at some ungodly hour of the morning, at my age the thought of sleeping on a couch is not altogether inviting."

She rounded the corner to the Kitchen and surveyed Beckett, smiling. "Oh.. I used to look that good in a sheet." She sighed, acting like seeing Beckett scantily clad in her kitchen was not an unusual occurrence.

Beckett laughed awkwardly, looking at Castle for assistance. He must have caught her alarmed gaze because he turned to his mother, motioning toward the frying pan. "Breakfast, mother?"

Martha scrunched up her nose. "Oh no, I had enough martinis last night to drown somebody in, I really couldn't eat a thing."

Castle nodded. Beckett chuckled internally; she guessed if her and Castle were going to be together, she would have to get used to cooky mornings such as this.

"Kate, dear, you must come and help me pick out an outfit for my class today - we're studying the classics, so I want something that says "Come hither, to Mither", she growled, nudging Beckett with a wink. Beckett laughed.

"Well... _Mither_... I'm sorry but we are just about to eat breakfast."

"Oh, we won't be two minutes." Martha said decisively, wrapping an arm around Beckett's thinly clad frame and leading her to the staircase. "Now, mine is still a very serious class, so it must be somewhat tasteful, I mean I certainly can't pull off a towel anymore..." Castle heard his mother telling Beckett.

What he didn't hear was what Martha whispered to Beckett when they both reached the top landing. "So, you two finally sorted it out huh? Thank god!"

...

No less than half an hour later, Beckett and Martha returned from their dress up session. Beckett walked behind Martha, almost hidden by her.

Castle sat at the island in the kitchen, his eyebrows raised, smugly.

"OK, so we took a little longer than expected", Martha said before he could open his mouth. "Buuut... it is only because I was trying to find... this." She extended her hands, motioning for Beckett to walk out behind her.

The moment she came into Castle's line of view, his jaw dropped. She was wearing a white dress with three-quarter sleeves, and a navy-style collar. The dress stopped just above her knees. There was a dark blue bow at the front that broke the starkness of the white, and accentuated all of Beckett's best assets.

"V-very nice", Castle muttered.

"Oh darling, what kind of a writer are you? Shouldn't you be saying something a bit more prophetic, something like "Every sunset that's ever risen, and every star that's ever shone cannot half compete with your beauty"?

Castle smiled. "Very poetic, mother. But there's something you should learn about mine and Kate's relationship."

Kate raised her eyebrows at him.

"Characteristically, I am a man of many words. But with this woman, this woman who a sky filled with a million stars could not have a hope of even comparing with."

Beckett bit her lip, suppressing a smile. He never took his eyes off her.

"She knows how I feel about her. She's known for four years. When I look at her like I am right now, when we look at each other..."

Beckett stopped hiding her smile, just staring at him goofily.

"We say more with our eyes, than all of Shakespeare's sonnets ever could." He inhaled, taking her in.

Martha stepped backwards. "Any actress would realize that that is their cue."

She left the loft quietly, leaving Castle and Beckett staring at each other still.

"You are pretty damn fine though", Castle finally breathed out.

Beckett grinned. "You're not so bad yourself, Rick."

Castle came around the island, and took her hands in his. "Why are you even with a schmuck like me?"

Beckett tilted her head. "You're the only one who knows my dirty little secrets, remember?"

"Oh...yeah", he murmured, just before swarming in on her mouth.

She sighed into the kiss and relaxed into his touch, the gentle circles he was making on her back made her forget everything she knew before that moment. When they separated, they spent a while caressing each others' faces and still staring into the deep pools of emotion that were one another's eyes.

"Kate", Castle said deadly seriously.

"Mm?" Beckett asked, her tone raised higher than usual with anxiousness.

"We have to go back to work tomorrow."

Beckett squinted at him. "Yeaah...And?"

"And I just wanted to clarify something."

Beckett shook her head, impatiently. "Which is?"

"Is it going to be how it was before we morphed into "The Bexhills?" Are we going to turn back into just being partners, or are we going to really give this thing a chance?"

"I thought we already _were_ giving this a chance", Beckett said simply.

"But we're not back at work yet, and I know that you've been married to your job for a long time... if you're with me... am I going to come first or second to the job?" Castle struggled to find the words.

Beckett narrowed her eyes at him.

Castle shook his head. "Look, I'm sorry, I'm not saying what I want to... You seem to have that effect on me."

Beckett urged herself not to smile, she _would_ not smile.

"What I really want to know is... When I come home tomorrow after work, after we solve the case and catch the bad guy..."

Beckett snorted, thinking "I wish."

Castle took a breath. "Will you come home with me tomorrow?"

Beckett's face contorted and softened, feeling a sense of relief. "Of course."

"Only, I know how a lot of couples say they need space from each other..."

"I want to come home with you tomorrow and the day after, and the day after that..."

"...And if we're working together all the time and then coming home together, then we might just get sick of being with each other all the time, like having too much of each other..."

"I could only ever have too little of you, Rick..."

"...And that would only put strain on our relationship, both professionally and personally..."

"...Anywhere you are, that is where my home is..."

"...And I really don't want that Kate, because I love you way to much to ever let this thing we have be jeopardized for any reason that..."

"Rick, I want to go back to the retreat." Beckett said, making him finally shut up and listen to what she was saying.

"He blinked. What? Uh, Why?"

She shrugged. "I don't like the way we left things there. Murray, Jasmine, all those guys are good people, doing good things for O'Bryant. Even Sylvia... we could get her some help."

Castle nodded simply. "OK."

"I mean I know she wasn't exactly a peach, but I kind of see her as a rough diamond, you know..."

"You're amazing..."

"Actually, she kind of reminds me of myself a little bit, you know when I was her age. And she's not the only one I think we could help there either, now that all the couples there know who we are, it wouldn't be..."

"BECKETT!"

Beckett stopped jabbering abruptly, looking affronted.

Castle took her by the shoulders. "There's cereal in the cupboard. Eat and we'll go."

He went to get dressed, leaving her standing in the kitchen, a smile very slowly dawning on her bright face.

...

Castle and Beckett entered the Lasting Vows Marriage Retreat, Castle grimaced again at the terrible slogan on the sign. They pulled into the car park. When they got out of the car, a vehicle they recognized pulled in beside them.

They stopped as Gareth O'Bryant stepped out of his car and then froze at the sight of them there. "Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle, what are you doing here?" He asked, panicked.

"Mr. O'Bryant, Sir... Gareth."

"Please tell me you're not here to investigate further. They told me you'd apprehended the killer, yesterday. They said they would be releasing Caroline's body today..."

"Gareth... stop, please sir don't worry, the case is closed. The woman who is responsible for your wife's murder is behind bars, and she will be staying there for a long time", Beckett reassured him.

Gareth tensed for a moment longer, before sighing with relief. "Thank you Detective."

"You're very welcome, Sir."

"So ah, what are you doing here?" Castle asked the man.

O'Bryant shifted on his feet. "Well, my wife was so respected here, we never had children, so this place became her baby. While I was off thinking I was changing the world by introducing tax cuts and opening new libraries, she was the one really changing the world, changing people's lives. I thought it was about time I came and had my eyes opened by all that she achieved. I know it's too late, but, I'm finally going to get to know my wife."

Beckett smiled sadly. "You know, somebody told me your wife never took off those gloves because they were the first thing you ever went out and bought her yourself."

Gareth shook his head. "I should've bought her the world on a string... that's the least she deserved from me."

"Your wife loved you, Gareth."

O'Bryant nodded his head. "She always was the most... confusing woman." He chuckled.

Castle and Beckett looked at him, smiling softly.

O'Bryant cleared his throat. "So, if you're not here for that then...why are you here?"

"We honor the victims, and I don't know that your wife would have totally approved of our methods of conduction while we've been at her retreat. We came back to make amends."

O'Bryant nodded, not requiring any more of an explanation. "Well, Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle... follow me. I'm good with the manager, I should be able to get you in."

...

They met up with Murray and Jasmine in the main foyer, where Castle amazed everyone by offering a 50,000 dollar check to the retreat, which he told them to use on serving up better meals, and replacing "those idiotic bean bags", for life-like dolls.

Not one to be outdone evidently, O'Bryant then told Murray, he would be donating 75,000 dollars to the retreat in the next quarter. Making only one demand of how it should be spent. The erection of a monument in the memory of Caroline Jean O'Bryant. Murray shook his hand and told him that would it would be his honor.

When their hands disconnected, the last wedding march for this fortnight, played over the loudspeaker.

"Group session, time, let's go people... Murray will have our heads... oh woops, sorry Murray..." Castle winked and slapped Murray on the back, in a friendly fashion.

"Actually, this isn't the call for a group session. The last wedding march for the fortnight is the actual thing. It's time for a wedding... well, a re-affirming anyway. Mr. Castle, Miss Beckett, you're both welcome to come along and observe...then again, this could be an opportunity for you two... you are in a relationship are you not?" He winked at them and walked out of the room, behind Jasmine and O'Bryant, leaving them alone in the foyer.

They caught each other's gaze and Castle chuckled. "Funny guy huh? Suggesting we... well whatever that was about... it's just ridiculous", he fumbled.

"I think we should do it", Beckett told him suddenly, making him just about drop to the floor.

"Wh-huh-wh-what?" Castle's eyes went wide.

"As Maria and Tony", she clarified.

Castle got his breath back a little. "Oh", he said, almost disappointed. Then he smiled. "Yeah... for Maria and Tony."

Beckett smiled back shyly. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a chain that Castle had seen her wear around her neck, many times in the past. Attached to the chain was her mother's ring. She disconnected the ring from the chain, shrugging. "It's not a wedding band but..."

"It's the most special thing you own. Nothing I could ever give you will ever be as important as this... it's perfect."

Castle told her. Beckett's hand shook slightly with emotion, as she held out the ring for Castle. "Take it... ask me."

Castle swallowed, nervously, taking the ring from her. "Maria, will you re-marry Tony?" He asked, hardly discernibly.

Beckett put her hands on her hips. "Mr. Bexhill What are you doing? Get down on your knee", she scolded him.

Castle's eyes bulged and he slapped himself. "Yeah, right, you'd think I'd never done this before."

Beckett laughed, and closed her eyes, holding out her left hand.

"Mrs. Bexhill?" Castle asked her, once down on one knee.

"Yes", Beckett responded, her eyes still closed.

"Will you re-marry me?"

Beckett opened one of her eyes and grinned. The sight of Castle, in front of her, on one knee, holding out her mother's ring. It was way more than meta.

Opening her eyes, she knelt on her knees in front of him. "One day. Not today, but one day, this won't be a fantasy. One day in the not too distant future, your Mom will be there, crying in the front row, and my Dad will be there to give me away, and Alexis will be one of my bridesmaids... Lanie will put me in her morgue if I don't make her my maid of honor. I don't know how you're going to pick out of Ryan and Espo for best man."

Castle shook his head. "Whaaat? Please, those two clowns? Stephen Cannell's my best man, he missed out to Patterson and Lehane for the first two, so, I promised him he could be next."

"What about Connelly?" Beckett asked, him, amused.

"I don't plan on getting married a fourth time, he never called dibs, so he'll just have to deal with that" Castle said.

Beckett blushed, finding it difficult to look into his eyes all of a sudden.

Castle cleared his throat. "Anyway, we were doing something pretty important, before you completely diverted away..."

Beckett pursed her lips. "Sorry, yes, I was um... I was saying that one day... One day, this scenario, this will happen for Rick and Kate... at least I hope it will."

Castle's back straightened up and he searched for that promise in her eyes. Finding it, he smiled, making her smile in return.

"But for now, on behalf of Maria; I will just say... yes."

Castle's smile grew wider and he slid the ring onto her left hand, it fit perfectly, and for a moment Beckett just stared at it.

She knew her mother would have approved of both the ring and the man.

"Tony is a very happy man", Castle said, running his hand over the ring.

Beckett smiled up at him. "Maria is a very happy woman."

Castle leaned forward and kissed Beckett thoroughly. He held onto her for a moment, placing soft kisses in her hair.

Beckett laughed as he began to sing _"There's a place for us, Somewhere a place for us..." _She pulled away and brushed his face with her palm.

"Come on Mr. Bexhill. Let's go get married."

**A/N: So folks, it's sad to say goodbye, but the next chapter will be the final for The Bexhills. I will work hard on that over the next couple of days, so as to give it a good send off... watch this space!**


	19. Chapter 19 Epilogue

**Hey y'all, so this is it :'-(**

**I gotta say, I shed a little tear when I wrote the last line, it is sad to finish it, but as a singer, Christmas time is the busiest time of the year, and it can get pretty crazy so, before I lose my mind, I thought it would just be better to wrap the story up nice and neat for you, and leave it at happily ever after!**

**I just cannot thank you all enough for your kindness and support, it has continued to amaze me, every time I get an e-mail with a new review, my heart does a little jump! Your words of encouragement never fail to make me smile, which is why they are currently clogging up my inbox haha :D But I think I will keep them there, they mean a lot to this little writer.**

**So again, thanks, it's been fantastic, I do have some plans for a one or two shot that have been floating around in my lil head since before I got the idea for The Bexhills, but I like to finish one thing before I start another, so look out for a new fic after the madness of Christmas is over!**

**Enjoy the last chapter of this story.**

**Peace and love,**

**Renee.**

Richard Castle and Katherine Beckett did not actually marry that day. But that promise to one day be Mr. and Mrs. Castle. was not forgotten by either of them.

A month after that last Sunday at the Lasting Vows Marriage Retreat, Castle and Beckett sat on Castle's couch, bodies close and comfortable.

Quite suddenly, Beckett grabbed the remote and turned off the movie they had been watching. "Hey!" Castle squealed indignantly.

She prized herself away from him enough so that she could turn to look at his face with a serious expression.

"Kate, are you OK?" He asked her, instantly concerned.

"I'm going to move in tomorrow." She told him, not answering his question, and not asking one of her own, but telling him outright.

His brow furrowed. "Move in?"

She nodded. "Into your loft."

He raised his eyebrow, a grin slowly forming. "You want to move in with me?"

Again, she nodded.

"Of course you can", he laughed.

"Well, I wasn't actually asking", she pointed out.

He laughed again, and pulled her back into his arms; she resisted.

He looked at her slightly confused. "Is there something else?"

"We need to get some new furniture", she told him.

He pouted playfully. "You don't like my furniture? Because I distinctly recall you enjoy this couch _immensely_, and that dining room table, uh, the kitchen counter too - oh yes, that rug, last tuesday..."

She stopped him by putting her hand on his chest. "That's kind of why we need new furniture."

He closed his eyes, nodding slowly. "Oh, I know what you're talking about now."

She bit her lip. "You do?"

"Yeah, I know Kate, you're a cop, you deal with crime scenes all the time, seeing all those bodily fluids in their true form, even I gotta say, it kind of takes the shine off even the most well polished vinyl. But, we don't need to resort to buying a whole new house full of stuff, I'm sure there are some strong chemicals that we could use to clean..."

"RICK!"

Castle stopped talking, jumping a little at her strict tone.

"Shut up, please!" She said, looking exasperated.

Castle frowned. "Did I do something?"

Beckett closed her eyes for a moment. She spoke softly. "Yes, you did."

Castle used his hands to prop himself up on his hands. "What, sweetheart? What did I do?" He asked her gently.

"You created something pretty serious." Beckett said, refusing to meet his eyes.

"You mean... our relationship? I think it's serious, isn't it? I mean, well obviously you must think so, you just told me you're moving in, so I guess if it wasn't serious before, it's just taken a violent jolt into serious", he chuckled.

Beckett shook her head. "God, you are so clueless at times!" She shouted.

Castle was not expecting that.

Beckett's voice shook a little as she spoke next. "Nursery furniture Rick, we need to get nursery furniture." She turned her head away from him.

His silence filled the room, turning it into an unbearable chamber pressure. Castle was just trying to decide if he was hallucinating or not, and if he wasn't, could she really have meant what he thought she meant?

After about a minute, Beckett sighed loudly. "Rick, say something, please."

Castle was pale, his mouth opening and closing ineffectively.

"N-not sure... Ican."

"Are you angry?" Beckett asked timidly.

Castle inhaled sharply and turned to look at her finally. "Am I angry?" He nodded slowly. "Yeah... I'm angry at myself for putting you in this position."

Beckett breathed out in a way that was almost laughter. "What?"

"Your whole career is going to have to be put on hold. This life you've worked so hard to build, all these credentials you've stacked up, this incredible CV you've complied, it's all going to come to an end. It's all going to be for nothing..."

Beckett shook her head. "That wasn't a life I worked hard to build, that was a career; a job. Yes, it was a big part of my life, but it wasn't my whole life, or at least recently I've been trying not to let it be."

She reached out and took his hand in hers. "I always imagined being the kind of mom that could say her kids, her family were her whole life. I've dreamed about being able to do that. When I turned thirty I started feeling a desperation for that to happen. One of the reasons I got with a certain surgeon who appeared to have excellent genes."

Castle rolled his eyes.

"But when I started thinking about having a family with you, all of a sudden, I knew I didn't need to rush. It sounds selfish and cruel now, but when you told me you loved me, I knew you would wait for me. However long I needed you to wait."

Castle blinked. "Sad...but true", he smiled a small smile.

Beckett shifted where she sat. "I didn't want to wait though", she confessed.

Castle palmed her cheek, and smiled. "Me either."

"Rick."

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"We're going to have a baby." Beckett beamed.

Castle's expression mirrored hers. "Kate... you're going to be a mama."

Beckett inhaled shakily. "I'm going to be a mama."

Castle stroked her hand with his thumb. "Are you scared?"

Beckett rolled her eyes, and tilted her head back. "Are you kidding? I'm freaking out!" She laughed.

Castle laughed with her. "Don't worry, I've done this before."

"Done what before?" Alexis strolled casually into the living room, walking up behind the couple and leaning down comfortably on the back of the couch, poking her head between them.

Castle winked at Beckett and she grinned from ear to ear.

Beckett played with a lock of Alexis' hair. "Alexis honey, we have some news..."

...

A year later, Kate and Rick sat in their home in Staten Island.

Half way through Kate's pregnancy, they had decided that five people living in Castle's loft was going to be a bit of a stretch, and although Alexis was never any worse for wear, Rick wanted to raise his new child in a quiet neighborhood, where they could play baseball together out on the yard, and fire up the barbecue on summer days, out by the pool. And when the kid was old enough, he would be able to safely travel on a bus to school, although Rick thought that after seeing what Kate had seen in the city, his wife would probably always have slight reservations about letting her baby out into the world alone.

They had married when Kate had been four months pregnant. Still thin enough to fit into a gorgeous designer dress, but already showing that glow that jumped off their wedding pictures, as they stood with their wedding party, Lanie, Esposito, Ryan, Martha, Jim, Alexis, and Steve Cannell, just to name a few. O'Bryant had attended at Kate's insistence, it had been his 50th knot-tying in four months. Since that Sunday at his retreat, he had attended the re-affirmings of every couple, just as his wife had always done. He remained good friends with Rick and Kate, as they were now something of a partnership, as co-sponsors of the retreat.

Martha had stayed in the loft, where Rick would pay her surprise visits occasionally, to make sure she wasn't having too much fun; or at least that's how he explained it. He was just a very good son.

And here Rick and Kate were now; in their Suburban home.

Kate was feeding their three month old son, Thomas James Castle, his bottle (The scar between her breasts had made breast feeding painful.) Rick was sitting at his office desk, which he kept in their living room, so that he could be near his wife and son at all times; Kate no longer felt that his innate need to be constantly watching her while she did menial things such as paperwork, was "creepy".

She had stayed with the force in an administrative role, she had too much to live for now, and she wouldn't risk any of it by going out chasing bad guys. She played her part, found her justice by making sure all of the evidence they had pointing to the perp was tight and squeaky clean. When she had told Rick she was stepping down as a detective, she expected him to be mad, but to the contrary, he told her he was so proud of her, and that she would still be his muse - another thing she no longer minded.

The phone rang and Rick answered it as Kate cooed with their son. Tommy blew spit bubbles and Beckett giggled, wiping them up. She had been doing that a lot over the last three months; giggling.

Rick laughed over the phone, making Tommy gaze over at him. Kate gasped and kissed him on the cheek. "What's daddy doing, huh? Is Daddy silly? Yes he is. But you're not are you, you clever little guy, you know where that sound is coming from, don't you? You're just such a bright little boy." She kissed him several times, and then smiled at the best thing she'd ever created.

When Rick got off the phone, he whooped in delight. "What?" Kate asked him.

"That was Liz, they just got back from Tom's last check up." He clapped his hands together, grinning.

"And?" Kate's eyes lit up, hopefully.

"Flying colors!"

"Oh!" Kate tickled Tommy in her lap, grinning as wide as her husband. "Yes!" She bounced the infant up and down on her knee. "Did you hear that? Uncle Tom's cancer-free!"

Rick came and flopped on the couch next to his wife and son. He let "T.J.", as he called him, wrap his chubby hand around his finger. "Yeah, now he can come and start teaching you how to ride a bike and tie your shoelaces, aye T.J.?"

Kate laughed. "Really? I know he's smart, but he's only a baby."

"Well they're the things Godfathers are supposed to do, and you've got to have some expectations for your kids or they'll never have anything to amount to", he told her.

"Yeah, meanwhile your daughter never had anything expected of her, and where is she today? Only Columbia university, thank you very much."

"Well, she's never really been one to conform or be normal", he smirked.

Beckett opened her mouth. "Excuse me, that's my girl you're talking about!"

"Oh she's _your_ girl, now? Fine, then this..." He reached over and lifted Tommy out of his mother's hands. "Is _my_ boy."

Kate rolled her eyes.

"Yes you are my boy! You are daddy's little big tough man. Hey, T.J... can you say daddy? Caaan you say dada?" Can you say onomatopoeia?"

Kate laughed. "OK, the bike riding is looking more plausible by the second."

Tommy burped and Rick gasped, turning to Kate. "Did you hear that? A perfect example of onomatopoeia!" He winked. "See? Expectations, I'm telling you..."

Kate shook her head. She sat and admired the man in front of her. Admiring what a great father he was, a great provider, an all around great catch really. She thought back over the past year, all the changes she'd made. At one stage in her life, she would have considered them great sacrifices, but she knew sitting here with her husband and her son, that she would sacrifice her life for this, for them.

Everything had changed for Kate Beckett, and also nothing had changed. She knew the person she was today was the person she always was, but she had been stuck, somewhere rooted inside of herself. She was now the person she had been destined to be before her mother's murder. The devoted wife, the nurturing mother. The cop with commendations to her name that she could be proud of, but not use as a staple, or as something to define her. She still hadn't solved her mother's case, but she was reminded by Martha in private several times over the past year that Rick had never even met his dad, and that it was surely better that Kate had had at least had the opportunity to know her Mom, to love and to lose, however painful it might be; was still better than never having the chance to love. And Kate had grown to accept her premise, and embrace it. And then when Alexis had started playfully calling her "mama", while Kate was pregnant, Kate had realized that she was the mother figure now, she was the one who would be sorely missed if she were to ever have her life taken. That day Alexis had first called her mama, that had been the day she decided to leave the force.

Her thoughts lingering on the precinct, Kate suddenly stood up from the couch, using Rick's leg to help herself up. "I better go get into a shirt that doesn't have spit on it, the guys will be here soon", she said.

"What time are they coming?" Rick asked.

Kate looked at her watch, she still wore her father's watch and her mother's ring. "Uh, Lanie and Javi said about 7, I think Kev said he and Jenny might be a little late."

"Oh good, a chance to grill Mr. Esposito about this whole wedding thing, convince him who the _better _choice for his best man is. I already pointed out to Lanie the other day, that I have the means to throw a far superior party for them, she seemed genuinely swayed by my extravagant proposal, I think I've got a pretty good shot."

Kate shook her head. "You're such a child... Tommy, I'm going to go get changed, you're the responsible one while I'm gone, watch your father will you?"

"Hey, you sure you don't want some help?" Castle asked her, with his tongue poking out.

She smirked playfully and walked into their bedroom.

Rick laughed at her. He sometimes still woke up and wondered whose house he was in, whose wife he was waking up next to. After a year, he still couldn't believe that Detective Katherine Beckett; Nikki Heat herself, had fallen for him. He knew it would have taken a lot longer for her to let her guard down, to confess that she needed him, and wanted him, and loved him as much as he'd always loved her, if they had never stepped into Gates' office on that fateful day and been assigned to go undercover as a married couple. They'd gone to the retreat, and there they had quite unwittingly discovered more about each other, and about themselves than they did about the case. "Thank God for Liz", they always said to each other, if their good friend hadn't cracked open the case, Caroline O'Bryant's killer would probably still be walking around out there scott-free. Come to think of it, if it hadn't been for Liz and Tom, Kate and Rick probably would have not confessed their love for one another on that emotional evening when Tom was rushed to hospital and Kate realized how short life really was, and how little time she might have had left to tell him. So, in a way, he could have said it was all down to Mary-Beth Andrews, or even Gates for assigning them the case (not that she EVER intended them to come back and announce that they were now lovers), but he thought that was just a little bit crass on both counts, and so he just thanked Liz and Tom. The person he would be eternally grateful to more than anyone though, was his Kate. She had given him back his life. She had made his job easy, and difficult and fun and frustrating and his life all of those things as well. She had given him a son, and a life filled with adventure and laughter and lots... and lots... of breathing.

Kate walked back into the room, wearing a fresh shirt. "OK, I'll take Prince Thomas while you get yourself a bit better presented."

Rick pouted. "You don't like my ruggedness?"

She played with his collar. 'There's a line between ruggedly handsome and mountain man." She smacked him playfully on the butt.

He laughed. "Alright, you take the heir to the throne."

"Ha", Kate smiled, taking Tommy from him.

"What?" He asked, running his hand over his 5 o'clock shadow that had been yesterdays.

"I just realized... Tony finally got his heir."

Rick chuckled. "And Maria finally got her..." he tilted his head, he had planned on a witty remark but nothing had come to him.

Kate leaned into him, touching his nose with hers, holding their son between them. "Maria finally got her everything."

He kissed her lightly on the lips, before smiling googly-eyed at her and going to shave.

They both recalled in that moment, that there was one other party that had contributed to them being together.

If it weren't for the identities they had once assumed, the married couple they had played, they wouldn't be married for real today.

At first it had seemed like a nightmare, sleeping together in the same bed was something they were both dreading, but for reasons neither of them were willing to admit.

Slowly over the course of that week, the guise of Maria and Tony had been the driving force they needed to get Kate and Rick to wake up from their slumber of denial and pent-up sexual tension.

The Lasting Vows Marriage Retreat was a place Rick and Kate would never need, but they would carry fond memories of it, always. And one thing was certain in both their minds. They would never forget The Bexhills.

**_The End_**


End file.
